Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Ward, Mott, Pletcher, Glyshaw give meeting American feel
Royal Ascot fever is breaking out all over America.
Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, a traditionalist who you might think immune to such a syndrome, has caught a mild case. The germ has extended its reach so far that trainer Tim Glyshaw, often found at Indiana Grand at this time of year, was in England this week being fitted for appropriate race-going attire, including, of course, the traditional Ascot hat.
Yes, it’s time for the annual Royal Ascot meeting, which starts Tuesday and runs through Saturday, and, of course, the guy who started the whole American involvement is playing a major role. Trainer Wesley Ward, the first American-based trainer to win a Royal Ascot race, has a nine-horse contingent ready to deploy over the five-day meeting.
“The horses are settled in nicely, and everyone’s happy,” Ward said Thursday by phone from England. “It’s beautiful weather, and we’re going to get fast ground all week. That’s a big deal.”
Indeed, it’s difficult enough for American horses to compete with the Europeans at Ascot when the turf is firm, and soft ground is deleterious enough that Ward one year canceled his whole Ascot trip because of persistently rainy weather.
Ward’s raiding party is headed by Lady Aurelia, whose Royal Ascot reputation already is secure with a breathtaking win two summers ago in the Queen Mary Stakes and victory last year in the King’s Stand. Lady Aurelia is the general early co-favorite at 5-2, along with Battaash, to win the King’s Stand for the second year in a row.
The King’s Stand also is the race for the Indiana-bred Bucchero, the Glyshaw-trained horse who is 30-1 in early wagering on the straightcourse five-furlong dash.
The King’s Stand is one of three Group 1 races on Tuesday’s card, top to bottom the strongest of the meeting. The meet’s first race is the Group 1 Queen Anne over a straightcourse mile, the race Tepin famously won two years ago. This is the spot for Mott’s horse Yoshida, who won the Grade 1 Old Forester Turf Classic at Churchill Downs last out in his 4-year-old debut and is being undervalued in early betting at odds of about 16-1.
“I haven’t done anything special with him for this race – just tried to keep him fit,” said Mott, who sent Long On Value to the Royal Ascot meeting in 2017, his first starter there. “I think there are some things we naturally learned about going over there last year.”
The third Group 1 on opening day is the St. James’s Palace, a one-mile race for 3-year-olds around one right-handed bend.
Ward made his Ascot mark in 2-year-old races, and the juvenile he rates highest among four he sent this year, Chelsea Cloisters, runs Wednesday in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes. Chelsea Cloisters is the 5-2 early favorite for the Queen Mary, and Ward expects a strong performance. Ward’s other 2-year-olds are Shang Shang Shang, a filly facing males in the Norfolk Stakes; Stillwater Cove, who runs in the Albany Stakes; and Moonlight Romance, possible for one of several spots.
The Wednesday feature is the Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes, which has the elite 4-year-old Cracksman firmly entrenched at the head of the betting markets.
Thursday’s feature, the 2 1/2-mile Gold Cup, is not American-friendly. Order of St George was upset by Big Orange in this race last year and could be challenged this time by the rising Stradivarius.
Todd Pletcher has Gidu for one of the two Group 1’s on the Friday card, the six-furlong Commonwealth Cup for 3-yearolds. Gidu will be a long price, but there is no defined favorite for the Commonwealth Cup or for Friday’s other Group 1, the one-mile Coronation for 3-year-old fillies.
The six-furlong Group 1 Diamond Jubilee headlines the closing-day program, and while there are crack sprinters in this race, especially Harry Angel, Ward has high hopes for Bound for Nowhere, who sizzled to a Keeneland turfsprint stakes win in his only start this year.
Ward, it must be said, always takes a positive stance on the horses he ships to the Royal Ascot meeting. Often, they have backed up his words.