Ribchester Sires First Winner at Keeneland

Four-time group 1 winner and freshman sire Ribchester  sired his first winner April 22 in the first race at Keeneland, when his daughter Ruthin  won a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight on the turf in easy fashion by six lengths.

Ruthin is campaigned by Barbara Banke's Stonestreet Stables that bought the filly at the 2020 Tattersalls October Book 1 Yearling Sale for 350,000 guineas (US$474,776). Bred by Highclere Stud and Jake Warren, the filly is out of the multiple listed stakes winner Selinka who also has produced multiple group winner Hit The Bid. Ruthin became the mare's fifth winner out of seven to race.

Trained by Wesley Ward, Ruthin broke sharply and took the lead in a couple of jumps. She took the field through brisk opening fractions of :21.91 and :45.65. Despite running a little green in mid-stretch, she won convincingly. Artos, a daughter of Tally-Ho Stud's Kodiac  and who dumped rider Julien Leparoux when she was being loaded, rallied to finish second, a half-length in front of U So Money Baby . The final time was 1:04.95.

"I've always been really high on this filly," Ward said. "When she got to the grass at Palm Meadows, I could see she was breathing different air than the rest of the fillies. Each and every work was better and better. When we got her to Keeneland, she had a really nice breeze on the dirt. I was pretty confident coming into this race."

Ribchester was campaigned primarily by Goldolphin. The 8-year-old son of Iffraaj  won six group stakes, of which four were group 1s. He retired with a 6-5-3 record out of 16 starts and earned $3,503,680. He stands at Kildangan Stud in Ireland for €17,500.

Stonestreet has purchased several young horses in Europe and brought them back to the U.S. to get started. The stable also debuted the National Defense  filly Twilight Gleaming  at Keeneland April 8, whom they bought at the Goffs Orby Sale for £75,000 (US$96,931). She finished second.

"Barbara loves to go to Ascot and Ben does a great job picking out horses over there, so we look forward to this one's future at Ascot," Ward said. Since 2009, Ward has saddled nine winners at the Royal Ascot meet. He and Stonestreet teamed up to win the Darley Prix Morny (G1) and Queen Mary Stakes (G2) last year with Campanelle .

Ward had a second debut winner at Keeneland two races later when Golden Bell  won going 4 1/2 furlongs on the main track by 5 1/4 lengths for Gatewood Bell's Hat Creek Racing partnership group and Everett Dobson's Cheyenne Stable. Golden Bell was ridden by John Velazquez.

Golden Bell is by Macho Uno  out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Peggy May, who has now produced four winners from four to race, including multiple stakes winner Doc Boy (by Into Mischief). Bell bought the filly from her breeder, Sierra Farm, for $50,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling Sale.

"She is not as seasoned as the ones I've had down in Florida, so it was a really big effort today considering the only track she's been at is Keeneland," Ward said.

Depending on how Golden Bell takes to the turf, she may also earn a trip to Ascot.

"Pedigree wise, Gatewood buys them to be dual surface. We know she likes one surface, now we'll see if she likes the other," Ward said.