You might as well join the party if you can't defeat Wesley Ward, which is practically a given in the April 2-year-old races at Keeneland.
Since the Keeneland meet in April 2023, Ward has a 7 for 15 record in baby races. His record is strengthened by the fact that he has had several runners in some of the events. He has now won three of the four races for two-year-olds this April. Bostontonian, a gelding, was expected to make it four wins out of five on Wednesday. In Thursday's second race, a 4 1/2-furlong test for 2-year-olds, Ultima Grace is expected to win unless she botches the start from post 1.
That's hardly a secret. John Velazquez is chosen to ride Ultima Grace, an American Pharoah daughter of Ultima D, who finished fifth in her 2017 Keeneland debut for Ward. Ultima Grace is placed at 6-5 on the morning line. According to Ward, Velazquez was demanding this horse after he successfully led Ultima Grace out of the gate at Payson Park last month.
"They sent her to me in July, and we began training her in August. She resembles a harness horse; she is a large, stocky horse. I led her easily to the gate, quickly pushed her aside with a few quick moves, and suddenly she was gone. stated Ward. She is not one of those tiny spacecrafts. I thought, "What the hell?" She repeated what I had planned out for her. After working her, Johnny V approached and yelled, "Don't let anybody else ride her! I own her.
According to Ward, his best two-year-olds will go on the grass towards the end of the Keeneland meet, with more scheduled to go on after them.
"I have a really strong squad. For Churchill, I should have some a bit later. I didn't have the best stock last year or the year before, but this year I have better horses," Ward remarked.
For the seventh race, which is a turf sprint for older fillies and mares with several high-end allowance requirements, Ward also has a horse called Daring Do. A minimum of one of the fifteen overflow eligible runners will participate in the race as Bling, who began Saturday in a stakes race, is among the main field. Given the possibility of rain by midweek, the weather may also play a role.
Daring Do won a 3-year-old turf sprint stakes at Ellis Park in July, was the winner of a first-level Keeneland turf-sprint allowance last April, and had a chipped knee after her most recent run, a flat eighth at Keeneland in October, according to Ward.
That's a legitimate justification, and Daring Do, wearing almost her best, fits in the Thursday feature as well as anyone.
"Throughout Saturday, she performed incredibly well," Ward remarked. She seems to go past it.
While Maker's Mark Mile winner Master of the Seas' possible target was the Turf Classic at Churchill Downs next month, trainer Charlie Appleby revealed over the weekend to Keeneland publicity that the 6-year-old gelding, the 2023 Breeders' Cup Mile winner, was being targeted for the Fourstardave on August 10 at Saratoga. The Maker's Mark Mile runner-up, Naval Crown, may get the start in the Turf Classsic.