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Wesley Ward’s Stolen Trophies Recovered

LEXINGTON, KY–The majority of the trophies that were stolen just over a month ago from trainer Wesley Ward's home in Versailles, Kentucky have been recovered. According to the Versailles Police Department's Assistant Chief Rob Young, one individual was charged with receiving stolen property and is now in custody.

On the morning of Feb. 8, 2022, a thief walked off with 14 trophies, including many that Ward received from the Royal Ascot meet, but they did not take any other valuables from the home such as electronics and several other trophies were left behind.

Ward was informed of his recovered trophies on Thursday.

Update: Thank you to all who retweeted about my family's stolen trophies. They have been recovered by the Versailles PD and the criminals have been arrested! The criminals have ruined the trophies to get the precious metals, but we are proud to get justice served! pic.twitter.com/c6rbnpbRUm

— Riley Ward (@riley_ward1) March 10, 2022

“We got a call from detective Steve Sparkman of the Versailles Police Department and he brought me in and said they had recovered the majority of the trophies,” Ward said. “There are still a few missing. Those trophies are not worth anything monetarily, so at least we got them back and the memories are still there.”

Assistant Chief Young said that seven of the missing trophies have been recovered.

“It's not the outcome that we wanted because they were heavily damaged,” he admitted. “Versailles police worked with the Montgomery County Sheriff's Office and the Lexington Police Department and we recovered them in Lexington on Wednesday. The case is ongoing. We're trying to recover additional trophies as well as identify all parties involved.”

Due to the ongoing status of the case, Young could not share any further information on the subject in custody.

Ward said that while the recovered trophies were burnt down in order to obtain any precious metals, he added that they were still recognizable and the Royal Ascot insignia could still be seen. When the trophies first went missing, Ward had said he would inquire about seeking replacement trophies, but now says he wishes to keep the recovered trophies despite their damage.

“We'll keep what we have,” he said. “We'll have to dust them off and clean them up, but we're happy to have them back.

Ward credits his son, Riley, for his hand in recovering the trophies by reaching out to various local news outlets including WKYT and LEX18NEWS.

“My son has been there for all these wins and was on the platform when we got all these trophies,” he said. “It really hit him hard so he's the one that reached out to the news outlets. I can't thank them enough because according to Detective Sparkman, that's one of the biggest reasons they were found is because they got a tip from someone and there was a lot of loose talk I guess, so thank God for my boy. He's the one that recovered them.”

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Trophies Stolen From Wesley Ward’s House

A thief broke into Wesley Ward's home in Versailles, Kentucky Tuesday morning and walked off with 12 trophies, including many that the trainer received at the Royal Ascot meet.

The story was first reported by the Lexington TV station WLEX.

The robber did not seem inclined to clear out Ward's house or take such valuable items as his laptop and desktop computer. Rather, only the 12 trophies were taken while several others were left behind, including Eclipse Award trophies. The thief took only the Ascot trophies and the trophy won by Judy the Beauty in the 2015 GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.

“It's strange they took what they did and that and that only,” Ward said.

To make matters even more confusing, Ward said all the Ascot trophies were kept in a bag in a closet in a spare bedroom and he has no idea how someone knew they were there. Ward said the Versailles Police Department told him the criminal likely had an insider's knowledge of Ward's home and the hours he kept as a trainer.

Ward does not believe that the stolen trophies will bring the thief anything more than a few hundred dollars.

“They're really worth nothing except to my family and I,” he said. “I guess if you melt them down for the silver and gold you could get some money, but it wouldn't be that much. Their street value, what could they be worth? Maybe $50 per trophy.”

The real loss, he said, is their sentimental value.

“I was presented with a trophy from the Queen of England and she only gives out two trophies a year at Ascot,” he said. “One was for when Wes Welker's Undrafted won the (2015 G1) Diamond Jubilee. I had my kids on the podium with me when she gave us the trophy. That's a memory you can never forget. To have a part of it taken away is just terrible.”

Ward said he has already contacted British racing officials inquiring what it would take to order replacement trophies.
A Nest camera captured an image of the burglar entering the house at 10:53 a.m. but there was not a clear picture of the robber's face. The burglar entered through the backdoor, which was not locked.

“I live out in the country, three miles behind Keeneland,” Ward said. “I live on a country road that sits on Elkhorn Creek. Who would think someone is going to come around the back door on a country farm house and come in. In all the years I've been here I've never seen anyone walking around where I live.”

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Unique Trophies for Unique Meet

FRANKLIN, Ky.–Winners of the bulk of the races at the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs–from maidens to graded stakes–receive a big chunk of purse money and a distinctive keepsake of their success at the track that is unlike any other in North America.

While it may be hard to put an autographed Fender acoustic guitar on a mantel, it sure is a conversation piece.

Allie Sclafani, the marketing director for live racing, spent eight months developing the project that features guitars for the six-day, $15-million meet contested over eight days close to the border with Tennessee.

“Kentucky Downs, year over year, has been experiencing growth,” Scalfani said. “Our co-owner, Ron Winchell–as a horse owner–wins a lot of trophies, so we didn't want to just offer folks the same Waterford bowl and decanter that we usually do.”

A total of seven guitars signed by Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Reba McEntire will be presented after the six graded stakes and the Music City S., which honors nearby Nashville, Tenn.

“The guitar came about last year for the Music City S., its namesake,” Sclafani said. “It was signed by George Strait and it was such a hit, similar to how Santa Anita used to present surfboards. For this year we decided if unique trophies are what the horse owners want, let's do a different trophy type for every type of races.”

For its non-graded races, Kentucky Downs presents hand-painted, customized decanters and glasses. Each one is personalized to include the winner's silks and a likeness of the winning horse.

Allowance race winners receive customized Bourbon barrel heads.

“One of the main goals this year was to embrace Kentucky Downs's location on the Tennessee line as the beginnings of the Kentucky Bourbon Trail,” Sclafani said. “That's one of the reasons why we have custom Bourbon bottles every day that are etched. We mirror that with our allowance races. They are mixed media. They've got metal and they will also be hand painted with their silks and shipped to the winning owners.”

Maiden winners go home with a piece of apparel, a cooler that is a walking advertising vehicle for Kentucky's famous equine industry.

“Since breaking your maiden in $135,000 races at Kentucky Downs is exciting, we wanted to honor that and make sure that the KTDF [Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund] gets a little love because we couldn't do it without them,” Sclafani said. “Those are titanium coolers from Fenwick. They are designed to improve circulation and help horses cool down after a race. They say, 'It Pays to Be a Kentucky-bred' and has the Kentucky Downs and FanDuel mark for 2021.”

Sclafani said that Kentucky Downs management was intent on putting together a clever and memorable marketing approach.

“For a race meet of only six days we want to generate as much buzz as we can,” she said. “We think that doing right by the horsemen is going to get our message out.”

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