Wesley Ward | Horse Racing Free Tips

Ward’s Royal Ascot Trophies Stolen In Home Burglary During Training Hours

Trainer Wesley Ward was the victim of a home burglary during training hours on the morning of Feb. 8, in which a thief got away with 12 trophies, including several he won at Royal Ascot.

Ward said a home security camera caught a few images of a stranger in his Versailles, Ky., home around 10 a.m. Tuesday, but did not show the person's face.

It appeared the thief had some idea of what they were looking for. According to Ward, the Royal Ascot trophies were mostly in the form of watches inside silver and gold inscribed boxes, which he stored in their original jewelry boxes inside a bag in a closet.

“They were in a bag in the closet so they wouldn't get stolen,” he said. “They were not on display.”

After speaking with police on Wednesday morning, Ward said he is hopeful there's a chance the trophies — one of which was a Breeders' Cup trophy — could be recovered.

“It's just strange. Nobody comes in that house,” he said. “They were really of no value other than to me and to replace. Like, who's going to buy them?”

The thief, who bypassed a laptop and a desktop computer, also made off with one of Ward's Nest cameras. The security company has agreed to work with local police to get them any imagery that camera may have captured before it was pulled out of the wall.

Speaking with LEX 18 on Tuesday, Ward estimated the trophies would have a replacement value of some $100,000, but it's their sentimental value he feels more heavily. One of the trophies was presented to him by Queen Elizabeth II — a rare honor for any trainer, and one experienced by few American horsemen.

Still, Ward says he's taking the incident in stride.

“It's a shame, but what are you going to do?” he said. “Move on and win some more.

“You can't dwell on it, that's for sure. I gave myself one night, that was it.”

Ward is the most decorated American trainer at the Royal Ascot meet, having become the first to win there during the 2009 meet with Strike The Tiger in the Windsor Castle and Jealous Again in the Group 2 Queen Mary. His other Royal Ascot wins include the 2013 G2 Norfolk with No Nay Never, the 2014 Windsor Castle with Hootenanny, the 2015 G1 Diamond Jubilee with Undrafted, the 2015 G2 Queen Mary with Acapulco, the 2016 G2 Queen Mary with Lady Aurelia, the 2017 G1 King's Stand with Lady Aurelia, the 2017 Sandringham with Con Te Partiro, the 2018 G2 Norfolk with Shang Shang Shang, the 2020 Queen Mary with Campanelle, and the 2021 G1 Commonwealth Cup with Campanelle.

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Weekly Stewards and Commissions Rulings: Jan. 25-31

Every week, the TDN publishes a roundup of key official rulings from the primary tracks within the four major racing jurisdictions of California, New York, Florida and Kentucky.

Here's a primer on how each of these jurisdictions adjudicates different offenses, what they make public and where.

CALIFORNIA

Track: Santa Anita

Date: 01/28/2022

Licensee: Richard Dean Greenman, trainer

Penalty: Required to participate in a fitness for licensure hearing before being permitted to get re-licensed (his license having expired in August of last year).

Violation: N/A

Explainer: Acting on an Order of Remand from the California Horse Racing Board DMTD Ruling #28 issued August 1, 2021, is amended as follows: Pursuant to CHRB rule #1900 (Grounds For Suspension Or Revocation) Trainer Richard Dean Greenman is suspended for 30 Days (August 19, 2021 through September 7, 2021–already served) for violation of CHRB rule #1874 (Disorderly Conduct–detrimental behavior) on March 3, 4 and 5, 2021, at Santa Anita Park. Further, Richard Dean Greenman must participate in a fitness for licensure hearing before being permitted to apply for a California Horse Racing Board Trainer's License.

Track: Santa Anita

Date: 01/28/2022

Licensee: Ruben Valdes, owner

Penalty: Suspended license

Violation: Failure to appear at hearing for non-payment of bill

Explainer: Owner Ruben Valdes, having failed to respond to written notice to appear before the Board of Stewards at Santa Anita Park on or before January 27, 2022, is hereby suspended for violation of California Horse Racing Board rule #1547 (Failure to Appear) pending an appearance at a hearing before a Board of Stewards to answer charges alleging violation of CHRB rule #1876 (Financial Responsibility–$4,240 to K.C. Transport). During the term of suspension, all licenses and license privileges of Ruben Valdes are suspended and pursuant to California Horse Racing Board rule #1528 (Jurisdiction of Stewards), subject is denied access to all premises in this jurisdiction.

Track: Santa Anita

Date: 01/30/2022

Licensee: Abel Cedillo, jockey

Penalty: $750 fine

Violation: Excessive use of the riding crop

Explainer: Jockey Abel Cedillo is fined $750.00 for violation of California Horse Racing Board Rule #1688(b)(8) (Use of Riding Crop–more than six times in succession during a race–second offense in the last sixty (60) days) during the eighth race at Santa Anita Park on January 29, 2022.

KENTUCKY

Track: Turfway Park

Date: 01/25/2022

Licensee: Wesley Ward, trainer

Penalty: Thirty-day suspension (15 days stayed), and $500 fine

Violation: Medication overage

Explainer: Upon receipt of notification from Industrial Laboratories, the official testing laboratory for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and confirmed at Texas A & M Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory, sample number E418071 taken from Averly Jane, who finished first in the ninth race at Churchill Downs on April 28, 2021 contained Metformin in blood (Class 8). After a formal hearing before the Board of Stewards, Wesley A. Ward is hereby suspended 30 days and fined $500.00. Due to mitigating circumstances (number of violations in relation to overall record), 15 days are to be served from January 26, 2022 through February 9, 2022 (inclusive). The remaining 15 days are stayed on the condition that no Class A or Class 8 medication violation occurs in any racing jurisdiction within 365 days from the date of this ruling. Averly Jane is disqualified and all purse money forfeited. Pari-mutuel wagering is not affected by this ruling. During his suspension Mr. Ward is denied the privileges of all facilities under the jurisdiction of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. Entry of all horses owned or trained by Mr. Ward is denied pending transfer to persons acceptable to the stewards. Upon receipt of this ruling, it is required within 30 days to pay any and all fines imposed to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Read the TDN story on the matter here.

NEW YORK

Track: Aqueduct

Date: 01/28/2022

Licensee: Heman Harkie, jockey

Penalty: Three-day suspension

Violation: Careless riding

Explainer: For having waived his right to appeal Jockey Heman Harkie is hereby suspended three NYRA racing days January 29th 2022, January 30th 2022 and February 3rd 2022 inclusive. This for careless riding during the running of the seventh race at Aqueduct racetrack on January 27th 2022.

The post Weekly Stewards and Commissions Rulings: Jan. 25-31 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Wesley Ward Suspended and Fined by KY Stewards

Trainer Wesley Ward has been suspended 30 days and fined $500 as a result of Averly Jane (Midshipman) testing positive for the diabetes medication metformin after winning the Kentucky Juvenile S. at Churchill Downs on Apr. 28 last year, according to a recent Kentucky stewards ruling.

Fifteen of those 30 days have been stayed, however, due to Ward's overall record and number of violations, and on condition that the trainer receives no Class A or Class B medication violations over the next year.

Ward will serve the other 15 days of the suspension between Jan. 26 and Feb. 9.

Averly Jane was also disqualified and all purse monies are forfeited, according to the stewards ruling dated Jan. 25.

Not an equine medication, metformin is among the most commonly prescribed human medications in the U.S. It is used in the treatment of type II diabetes, reducing glucose production in the liver and the uptake of glucose by the intestine.

The Association of Racing Commissioners International classify it a Class 2B drug.

According to Ward's attorney, Darrell Vienna, Ward had not administered metformin to Averly Jane and that all the evidence suggests it was a case of environmental contamination.

As such, Vienna said that he presented the following question to the stewards.

“What is more plausible: That a trainer like Ward with an international reputation would have administered or caused to be administered an easily detectable substance with no impact on performance in minute quantities? Or that it resulted from contamination of feed, hay, human contact?”

According to Vienna, “there was not a single bit of evidence on the regulatory side other than the detection of a small amount of this substance in the horse's system.”

That amount, Vienna said, was in the parts per billion.

According to Vienna, the nature of the violation didn't warrant a suspension.

“I searched all the records in the United States and I found two prior cases [of metformin positives] that resulted in $1,000 fines,” Vienna said.

Vienna also explained that in 2019, the Kentucky legislature approved a rule change essentially modifying the trainer absolute insurer rule “by permitting trainers to introduce what they deemed substantial evidence of mitigating circumstances for which a lesser or no penalty would be appropriate.”

The mitigating circumstances in this case, Vienna argued, further supported the rendering of a fine only.

After her win in the Kentucky Juvenile S., Averly Jane had two easy victories in the Skidmore S. at Saratoga and in the Indian Summer S., at Keeneland.

Her last racecourse appearance was a fifth-place finish in the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Averly Jane is owned by Hat Creek Racing, a partnership led by Keeneland's vice president of racing, Gatewood Bell, himself a former Kentucky Horse Racing commissioner.

Over the last 10 years and comprising 4,615 starts, Ward has been penalized for two other medication violations, according to the Thoroughbredrulings website.

The KHRC issued Ward a $500 fine when Arcelor tested positive for methocarbamol after finishing first in the fifth race at Turfway Park on Dec. 2, 2016.

Prior to that, the New York State Gaming Commission served Ward a 30-day suspension and $1,000 fine after Sunset Time tested positive for clenbuterol after finishing third in the second race at Belmont Park on June 20, 2012.

“It happened and that's it,” said Ward, at the time. “I'm responsible for whatever the stewards give me. It is what it is. There are a lot of reasons it took so long for this to get resolved. It's for a medication I used to use to keep the lungs clean and everything working good. Unfortunately, this particular filly went over the permitted level. The rules are different now, and I don't use it at all.”

In June of 2020, the Florida Division of PariMutuel Wagering issued Ward a written warning after Summer Sangria tested positive for omeprazole sulfide, otherwise known as the ulcer medication Gastrogard.

The post Wesley Ward Suspended and Fined by KY Stewards appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Wesley Ward Suspended 30 Days Over Positive Test For Diabetes Drug

Trainer Wesley Ward has been fined $500 and suspended for 30 days by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission due to his trainee Averly Jane testing positive for metformin in the $150,000 Kentucky Juvenile Stakes at Churchill Downs on April 28, 2021.

According to medlineplus.gov, metformin (a Class B drug) is used to treat type 2 diabetes by decreasing the amount of glucose absorbed from food and the amount of glucose made by the liver; it also increases the body's response to insulin. Metformin has been examined in several studies regarding equine metabolic syndrome.

Fifteen days of the suspension have been stayed by the commission due to mitigating circumstances (number of violations in relation to overall
record), provided Ward does not have an additional Class A or B positive during the next 365 days. The dates Ward will serve are Jan. 26 through Feb. 9, inclusive.

“It's the fifth-most dispensed drug in the United States for diabetes,” Ward told the Daily Racing Form. “It was four nanograms. It's just a shame. I don't know how it got into the horse's system, and it obviously didn't make her run faster.”

Ward also told DRF that a shipping company employee informed him he has taken metformin twice a day for 30 years to manage his diabetes. Ward and attorney Darrell Vienna argued in a hearing with the KHRC that the case was environmental contamination, but Ward told DRF he respects the final decision of the stewards.

Averly Jane has been disqualified from her victory in the Kentucky Juvenile Stakes and purse money forfeited, moving Vodka N Water (Steve Asmussen) into first. The filly's record includes two additional stakes wins in 2021, the Skidmore at Saratoga and the Indian Summer at Keeneland, before she finished fifth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Averly Jane wins the Skidmore

The post Wesley Ward Suspended 30 Days Over Positive Test For Diabetes Drug appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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