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Ground-breaking American trainer Wesley Ward is bringing yet another strong team to Royal Ascot and plans to field runners in every two-year-old event at the meeting.
Photo by Racing and Sports
The Kentucky-based handler burst on to the scene in 2009 when Strike The Tiger won the Windsor Castle Stakes and Jealous Again bounded away with the Queen Mary, becoming the first US-based trainer to taste success at the summer highlight.
He returned with only one runner the following year and drew a blank with a bigger squad 12 months ago, but hopes to be competitive next week provided the weather does not continue in its current miserable state.
Heading the two-year-olds will be Kitten's Gift in the Coventry Stakes and Allaboutcaroline in the Queen Mary Stakes, while Redwood Kitten heads for the Windsor Castle, Undrafted the Norfolk, Go Kitten Go the Albany Stakes and Emotional Kitten the Chesham.
He will also have a three-year-old runner, with Sisterhood pencilled in for the Sandringham Handicap.
The horses will be stabled in Epsom until the festivities begin and John Velazquez, who won last weekend's Belmont Stakes aboard Union Rags, is set to ride all of them
Ward said from America: "We love to come across and the team looks really good. There are some nice horses coming over to give a good showing on the week.
"I think we'll hopefully have some luck, but we were worried about the going as the American pedigree horses prefer the faster going.
"I didn't have much luck when it was raining last year and I ended up scratching a bunch of the horses, so hopefully the going will be OK."
