We don’t get a great deal of American-trained horses sent to big U.K meetings, with most of the traffic going the other way, but Wesley Ward has bucked that trend in recent years as he's developed something of a love affair with Royal Ascot.
He arrived with a vengeance in 2009, scoring with a pair of two-year-olds in Strike The Tiger and Jealous Again.
His most famous visitor to Berkshire is the ferociously quick filly Lady Aurelia, who won the Queen Mary and the King's Stand at the track in the last two years.
She returns this year in a bid to defend her King’s Stand title and will be the leading name in a band of his trademark speedsters sent across the Atlantic in the coming weeks.
Who’ll be her companion on her trip? Old Strike the Tiger; who enjoyed an ignominious end to his racing career after the peak of his Windsor Castle win and now earns a crust as a 'pony' for Ward.
Lady Aurelia suffered defeat on her seasonal reappearance but Ward seemed unfussed “coming off a layoff you’re always a little vulnerable,” he said.
Royal Ascot remains her target and she’ll line up against Baattash in what should be a fascinating renewal of the King’s Stand.
The former champion jockey turned trainer was pleased with a bit of breezing work she did at Keeneland before her trip. He said: “now she’s really aggressive like she has been in the past. That’s what you want to see”.
Ward describes last year’s Commonwealth Cup fourth Bound For Nowhere as a “gorgeous big horse” and cited the Diamond Jubilee as his target for this year. "I think he’s going to run an unbelievable race,” he said.
Hemp Hemp Hurray disappointed in the Breeders Cup last term but Ward’s “nice colt” will likely go to the Commonwealth Cup or the Jersey Stakes.
It’s not yet clear which of his juvenile band will be sent to Ascot, with Shang Shang Shang and Chelsea Cloisters, both of whom who have claimed maiden wins over 4f at Keeneland, thought to be two of the likelier types to be aimed at something like the Queen Mary.
You can see them stretching their legs in a bit of work below.
