Ward Pleased With Stable's Royal Ascot Performance

Trainer Wesley Ward was at his Keeneland base the morning of June 26, overseeing his string that will soon include two recent stakes winners at the prestigious Royal Ascot meet in King's Stand Stakes (G1) winner Lady Aurelia and Sandringham Handicap winner Con Te Partiro.

The 3-year-old fillies, both by Scat Daddy, are scheduled to arrive in Chicago the afternoon of June 26 after their flight and complete a 42-hour quarantine at Arlington International Racecourse before returning to Keeneland. 

On June 20, Royal Ascot's opening day, Lady Aurelia and jockey John Velazquez scored a three-length win against 16 older male and female rivals in the five-furlong King's Stand. The victory marked Lady Aurelia's second triumph at Royal Ascot, where last year she won the Queen Mary Stakes (G2) by seven lengths.

Lady Aurelia, who also won the Darley Prix Morny (G1) last year and was Europe's champion 2-year-old filly, has won five of six races and has earned $718,617 for her owners, breeder Barbara Banke's Stonestreet and partners George Bolton and Peter Leidel. Ward is now pointing her to the five-furlong Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes (G1) Aug. 25 at York in England, with the five-furlong Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) Nov. 4 at Del Mar a long-range target.

"(Lady Aurelia) is a once-in-a-lifetime horse, and she's very, very special," said Ward, who sent out the filly to win her career debut at Keeneland in April 2016 and to take the Giant's Causeway Stakes in April of this year. "I'm so excited to be blessed to train a filly like that and have the confidence of the owners to give me a filly like her ... Words can't describe it, that's for sure."

The day after Lady Aurelia's win, Hat Creek Racing's stakes winner Con Te Partiro and jockey Jamie Spencer won the one-mile Sandringham by 1 1/4 lengths as a 20-1 longshot. Asked about her next race, Ward said, "I really want to win a graded race with her." He is considering the one-mile San Clemente Stakes (G2T) July 23 at Del Mar or the 1 1/8-mile Pucker Up Stakes (G3T) Aug. 12, Arlington Million Day. 

"It all depends on how she comes back," he said. "We'll have to sit down with Gatewood Bell (of Hat Creek) and see what he's thinking."

Once his Royal Ascot winners are back at Keeneland, Ward said they would have a couple of weeks of "nice and easies" then "a couple weeks of galloping, then right back working."

Ward, now the winner of nine Royal Ascot races since 2009, this year sent out a total of 10 horses there, including Queen Mary runner-up Happy Like a Fool. He is pleased with the results. 

"To have two of the 10 (win) ..." Ward began. "When you're getting back and settling in, you realize it's a great accomplishment. It's a lifelong accomplishment that you'll cherish forever."

Both Lady Aurelia and Con Te Partiro are graduates of Keeneland's 2015 September yearling sale.