By Bill Finley
When the Wesley Ward-trained Banree (Macho Uno), a filly facing males, won yesterday's second race at Keeneland, the outcome couldn't have come as a surprise to anyone. The race was a 4 1/2-furlong maiden event in the spring at Keeneland. And doesn't Ward win every one of those things?
Well, not exactly. But sometimes it seems like it. Arguably no trainer in the history of racing has ever been more dominant in one particular aspect of the sport. When it comes to early season maiden races, Ward's record is pretty close to off the charts.
Since 2009, there have been 47 2-year-old maiden events at the Keeneland spring meet. Ward has had starters in 45 of them. He won 22 of them or 48.9 percent.
It's no coincidence. When starting out his career, he was looking for an edge over other trainers and figured he could buy fast, precocious horses that also happened to be inexpensive that could win big pots early, before most of the top stables had their horses ready to go.
“I put a lot of time and effort into this,” he said. “My passion is the babies and getting them going where they are absolutely flawless and perfect. I am a perfectionist when it comes to that. That's why I rarely go to the races at Gulfstream in the afternoons. I start at the farm and start training at 12:30 or so and stay there until dark every day until all the babies are broken to perfection.”
Ward, a former jockey who won an Eclipse Award as an apprentice in 1984, gets on all of his babies and doesn't turn them over to regular exercise riders until he feels he has them figured out.
“They're just so well-schooled and I get a good handle on them because I don't have to rely on other people to break the horses,” he said. “I am actually the one on top of them for the first two weeks after I get them. I get on them the first day they come in and within three days they are on the racetrack with me. I just go slow and then I pass them on to whichever one of my exercise boys is right for that particular horse. It's just a passion I have, winning with these young horses. I can't get enough of it. I will stay at that farm all day long if I have to too make sure all the I's are dotted and the T's are crossed. It's something I love to do and fortunately I have gotten good results in the afternoon when we start to run them.”
“He goes out there every day, spends a lot of hours, a lot of time with them and puts them over different surfaces and in the pool,” said Dave Reid, a partner in Ice Wine Stable, for whom Ward trained G1 Prix Morny winner No Nay Never(Scat Daddy). “They get exposed to a lot of elements. They mature and grow up early and that's a huge part of why he has success. I think he has a very keen eye; he understands which horses will do well early and which ones won't. He's definitely and out-of-the box thinker and he'll do things that are different than anybody else.”
When Ward first started winning with 2-year-olds, few of them amounted to anything. The knock on him was that his horses were one-hit wonders and couldn't compete against the top stables when they rolled their horses out in the summer.
“In the prior years I could only afford a certain caliber of horse,” he said. “When you buy a certain price range of horse at the end of the day they are going to be what they are going to be. I just tried to get the best out of them early where I could win a decent sized purse early on.”
But Ward's success caught the attention of wealthier owners and no longer was he forced to rely on $10,000 yearlings or 2-year-old purchases. In recent years, his 2-year-old winners at Keeneland have included Eclipse Award winner Judy the Beauty (Ghostzapper), No Nay Never (Scat Daddy) and Hootenanny (Quality Road), the winner of last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.
“Once you get a getter quality horse, at the end of the day you have an athlete that can compete in bigger races,” Ward said. “If you can accomplish something early with them it just adds more to it. I did have one-hit wonders, but I was able to jump in and get a big purse with a lesser-priced horse early and then he would find his level down the road. Now I can jump in and get a really good horse's career off in a winning fashion where they get that confidence and then manage it accordingly throughout their careers. We already have that maiden win out of the way and can look forward to the next win.”
Ward also converted a lot of skeptics in 2009 when he won two races at Royal Ascot. Strike the Tiger (Tiger Ridge) won despite losing a $30,000 maiden claimer at Churchill Downs in his prior start. A few days later Ward won in the Group II Queen Mary Stakes with Jealous Again (Trippi), another Keeneland baby race winner. In the process, he became the first American-based trainer ever to win at the Royal Ascot meet.
Ever since he has made the Royal Ascot meet a major goal of his operation. He said that owner Kenneth Ramsey gave him seven 2-year-olds by Kitten's Joy this year, the goal being to get them to Royal Ascot. One, Love the Kitten (Kitten Joy), finished second on opening day at Keeneland behind stablemate Bruised Orange. Ward said Love That Kitten is nonetheless the better of the two and expects big things from him when he gets to England.
Though Ward's horses are no longer flaming out after the early 2-year-old races it remains to be seen if he can take a horse that is so precocious that they can win in April of their juvenile seasons and go on and win a Triple Crown race or, for that matter, any Grade I 3-year-old race.
He says what people forget is that not all his horses are pushed hard early and that whenever he senses one needs more time and will not do well at short distances he will be far more patient.
He lost the 2011 Florida Derby by a nose with the Ramsey owned Pleasant Prince (Indy King) and won the Ohio and Oklahoma Derbies with him later that same year. Ward says Ramsey has told him to be on the look out for horses at the sales that are suited to the classic races and won't necessarily peak early.
Meanwhile, there are a handful more 2-year-old races yet to be run this year at Keeneland. Wesley Ward isn't done visiting the winner's circle.
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