Ward Records 2,000th Training Victory in North America

Days after starting his first horse in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1), 12th-place finisher Like the King , Wesley Ward experienced another highlight at Churchill Downs May 6 when Gold for Kitten captured the sixth race, Ward's 2,000th training victory in North America.

Gold for Kitten, owned by Ken and Sarah Ramsey, prevailed by a half-length during Churchill's twilight card in a $50,000 claimer at odds of 7-1. Trainer Brendan Walsh claimed the Kitten's Joy   3-year-old filly for owner David Ross.

A trainer since 1991, Ward has been involved in numerous aspects of the sport, beginning as a jockey. As a 16-year-old in 1984, he won the Eclipse Award as outstanding apprentice, winning 335 races that year and riding titles at the Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park, and Meadowlands.

In addition to training, he is an owner and breeder. One standout horse he owned and trained, Judy the Beauty , won the 2014 DraftKings Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) and became champion female sprinter. Ward has also conditioned three other Breeders' Cup winners for clients.

"You know what? It's not even like work," Ward said May 7. "We finish every night here about 8 o'clock, sometimes a little later between the farm here. Last night I was moving mares and foals from one farm to another.

"You can't get enough of it, especially the way I have it orchestrated. I tell my children, 'If your work is what you love, it's not even work.' Every single day, seven days a week, I'm just loving it. It's just the lifestyle, especially when you are working with animals like this, when you are actually breeding them, foaling them, watching them grow up. It's just a fantastic life."

A Washington native, Ward, 53, recently took the spring training title at Keeneland with 20 victories, the seventh time he has been leading trainer at the Lexington track, where he bases much of his stable. His horses have earned more than $71 million in North America, and he and his staff regularly send horses to compete across the country, even to Europe.

Counting wins overseas, the trainer's win total is more than 2,000 victories. He estimates he has about 20 victories in Europe. That includes 11 victories at Royal Ascot, the most recent of which was a score from Stonestreet Stables' Campanelle  in the Queen Mary Stakes (G2) in 2020. 

As usual, he is planning another Ascot assault this year. Campanelle, having recovered from a foot ailment that led to her scratch from the TVG Limestone Turf Sprint Stakes April 9 at Keeneland, will soon resume breezing toward an intended start in the Commonwealth Cup (G1), Ward said. He also has Richard Ravin's Maven , a wire-to-wire allowance winner of a turf sprint at Keeneland April 15, pointed for the King's Stand Stakes (G1).

Accompanying them will be a group of speedy 2-year-olds, juveniles he hopes to sort out in upcoming workouts, preferably on turf, in the lead-up to next month's Royal Ascot meeting.