Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Ward’s big opening weekend didn’t include usual suspects
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Wesley Ward celebrated the Easter holiday by riding a lawn mower for part of the day. Of course he did. Ward must have been punishing himself for failing to win either of the 2-year-old races on the opening-day Keeneland card Friday, when Dream Fly was second at 4-5 and Magniloquent was seventh at 7-5.
“Needed some alone time to do a little thinking, actually,” said Ward.
It didn’t take Ward long to make good with loyal followers who know him as a 2-yearold specialist. He proceeded to win four stakes on the two-day opening weekend, all of them with 3-year-olds or older, in a remarkable feat that might well have him on his way to another Keeneland training title.
“Big weekend, for sure,” said Ward. “Pretty ironic, isn’t it? We got beat with the 2-yearolds, and then we won all those stakes. It’s all very humbling.”
Later Friday, Ward won the Palisades Turf Sprint with Chasing Artie and the Grade 3 Beaumont with Twenty Carat, then was back the next day to win the Grade 2 Shakertown with Bound for Nowhere and the Grade 1 Madison with Kimari.
The two Saturday triumphs were particularly gratifying. Bound for Nowhere, a 7-yearold Ward owns, earned a 105 Beyer returning from a layoff of nearly nine months and is now just $143 shy of being a million-dollar earner. Kimari, owned by Ten Broeck Farm, gave Ward his second victory in the Madison, following one of his all-time favorites, Judy the Beauty, in 2014.
When racing at the 15-day spring meet resumed Wednesday, Ward had just one scheduled starter – a 2-year-old firster named Kaufymaker, the morning-line favorite in the first race. He’ll have more action Thursday with entries in four races, including another 2-year-old first-timer, Twilight Gleaming, a Stonestreet Stables filly who surely will be favored with Irad Ortiz Jr. riding in race 2.
“Maybe we can finally win one of these baby races,” he joked.
Ward’s four wins give him a head start in the trainers’ race. He has won or shared six meet titles here, with the first coming at the 2012 fall meet and the latest (a tie) at the five-day 2020 summer meet.
Leparoux to ride Helium
Julien Leparoux has picked up the mount on Helium for the May 1 Kentucky Derby, trainer Mark Casse said Monday. Unbeaten in three career starts, Helium will run in the Derby off just one prep race as a 3-yearold, that being the March 6 Tampa Bay Derby.
Leparoux replaces Jose Ferrer, the 57-year-old veteran who guided Helium to his Tampa win. This will be the 13th time in the last 15 runnings that Leparoux has had a Derby mount, with his best finish coming aboard the Casse-trained Classic Empire, fourth in 2017.
Helium, owned by DJ Stable, had been scheduled to be flown Monday to Louisville from Ocala, Fla., along with another Derby-bound Casse trainee, Florida Derby runner-up Soup and Sandwich, owned by Live Oak Plantation. However, the flight was delayed until Tuesday, said Casse.
“I’d expect they’ll both breeze at Churchill sometime toward the end of this week,” said Casse.
Meanwhile, Casse said Beautiful Memories has been retired after the 3-year-old filly was eased in an opening-day allowance at Keeneland, thus ending one of the more bizarre racing careers of recent times. Beautiful Memories won her debut last May at Churchill by 10 lengths, then was eased as the favorite in both the Schuylerville and Spinaway at Saratoga. Her return Friday from a sevenmonth layoff was equally abysmal.
“She trained as good as a horse can train,” said Casse, “but something was going on in her mind that kept her from running in the afternoon the way she’s capable.”
‘Skydiver’ preps for Oaklawn
Trainer Kenny McPeek said Monday he is making preparations to send Swiss Skydiver to Oaklawn Park for the Grade 1 Apple Blossom on April 17 after the 3-yearold filly champion of 2020 was sent through her second breeze since she captured her 4-year-old debut, the Grade 1 Beholder Mile on March 13. Swiss Skydiver went a half-mile in 48 seconds early Saturday at Churchill.
McPeek had considered waiting for the Grade 1 La Troienne on the April 30 Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill before opting for the $1 million Apple Blossom.
Up goes Frazier’s number
Joe Frazier, a 3-year-old Distorted Humor colt who defeated stablemate Warrant and gave trainer Brad Cox a one-two finish in a sevenfurlong allowance Saturday, is the second Thoroughbred named for the late boxing champion.
The first was Joe Frazier, a foal of 1967 bred in Maryland by Peter Fuller of Dancer’s Image and Mom’s Command fame. That earlier version of Joe Frazier was sired by Quadrangle and won nine of 44 starts, including the Pelleteri at Fair Grounds and the Vertex at Bowie, both in 1971, when Frazier the boxer was at his career peak.