Wesley Ward | Horse Racing Free Tips

Like The King Has Derby Tune-Up At Keeneland For Red-Hot Ward

On Saturday morning at Keeneland racecourse in Lexington, Ky., M Racing Group's Like the King continued his preparation for a start in the $3 million Kentucky Derby (G1) Presented by Woodford Reserve by working six furlongs in company in 1:12.80 over a fast main track. (Click here for a video of the work.)

With Julio Garcia aboard, Like the King (by Palace Malice) started three lengths in back of 2020 Canadian champion female sprinter Artie's Princess and drew even at the sixteenth pole.

At the conclusion of the work, trainer Wesley Ward and Gary Stevens, agent for Drayden Van Dyke, who will have the Derby mount, exchanged fist bumps with enthusiasm.

“That was a good work and the horse he worked with is a champion,” Ward said. “He'll work again next Saturday or Sunday.”

Winner of the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) in his most recent start, Like the King worked six furlongs on the turf in 1:16 in company at Keeneland on April 10.

Like the King is expected to van to Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., on Tuesday, April 27, in advance of the May 1 Derby.

Meanwhile, Ward's Spring Meet juggernaut continued Friday when the Keeneland-based trainer picked up his 12th victory of the season with Douglas Scharbauer's homebred Red Ghost in the seventh race. Ward has a three-win margin over Brad Cox and a four-win advantage on Todd Pletcher after 10 days of the 15-day meet, which concludes April 23.

Ward has saddled a winner on seven of the nine racing days in which he has had a starter. He won both 2-year-old races Thursday to give him 21 victories in juvenile races here dating back to the 2018 Spring Meet.

Ward, who has entrants in four races Saturday afternoon, is on the verge of a seventh meet title that would vault him into a tie for third with Henry Forrest all time. Now with 193 career victories, he ranks seventh all time at Keeneland.

Ward has won four 2021 Spring Meet stakes: Madison (G1) with Kimari, Shakertown (G2) with Bound for Nowhere, Beaumont (G3) Presented by Keeneland Select with Twenty Cart and Palisades Turf Sprint with Chasing Artie. The total equals the record for most Spring Meet stakes victories shared by Ben Jones (1948), Todd Pletcher (2011) and Chad Brown (2018).

With 19 career stakes wins at Keeneland, Ward is tied with Hall of Famers Carl Nafzger and Woody Stephens on 13^th place on the list of the track's leading trainers by stakes wins.

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Drayden Van Dyke, Agent Gary Stevens Return To Kentucky With Derby Shot On Like The King

Jockey Drayden Van Dyke, 26, was a fixture on the Churchill Downs backstretch as a kid but started his riding career in California, thanks to the influence of trainer Tom Proctor. With lots of palm trees but diminishing opportunities, Van Dyke has relocated to his birth state – with three-time Kentucky Derby winner and Hall of Famer Gary Stevens as his agent.

“There was a little bit of musical jockeys out in California with his agent Brad Pegram, who had both Mike Smith and Drayden since he started riding,” Stevens explained during a video shot by Jennie Rees on behalf of the Kentucky HBPA. “I'd actually spoken to Drayden about a month before that had happened about a possible move here to Kentucky.

“I really wasn't interested in hustling book for anybody unless the right guy came along. Drayden's been in me and Mike's corner since he started riding. We've watched him develop as a rider, and he's become part of the family. It's a good opportunity for me, and I think a good opportunity for Drayden.”

While both acknowledged that it can be difficult to gain a foothold in Kentucky, especially at the Keeneland meeting, they believe Van Dyke's familiarity with the local horsemen and his skill in the saddle will be major assets in the coming months.

“Everybody here in Kentucky, they've known Drayden since he was a kid,” Stevens said. “It's pretty cool for me to see the guys that he had relationships with when he was a young kid. Jim Baker, we worked one for him at Trackside the other morning. Everybody at the barn, you could tell it was like a long-lost son just came into the barn.”

Van Dyke will also have a Kentucky Derby mount this year aboard the Wesley Ward-trained Like The King (Palace Malice), with whom he partnered to win the G3 Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park.

“I think he's peaking at the right moment,” said Van Dyke. “In my eyes, the race is wide open. I'm actually really excited. I was telling Gary the other day, I was dreaming about the Derby! I don't dream that often, and he was telling stories about Chris Antley dreaming about the Derby.”

“Wesley, he does things his own way,” Stevens added. “He said as a 2-year-old, (Like The King) just would not work well on the dirt; he didn't have an affinity for it. He put him on the turf and the synthetic, and he liked it. Obviously, over the wintertime, his last two workouts prior to the Jeff Ruby, when he worked on the dirt over there, he worked in 59 and change. They were black-letter works. So he is showing an affinity for Keeneland's dirt track. Now that's not the same as Churchill's is, but I've seen a lot of really good turf horses be able to transfer that turf form here at Churchill Downs, for whatever reason. If you want to try a turf horse on the dirt, Churchill Downs has been the place to do it.”

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American Pharoah’s Maven Wires Keeneland Allowance

7th-Keeneland, $78,525, Alw, 4-15, (C), 4yo/up, 5 1/2fT, 1:02.60, gd, 2 1/4 lengths.
MAVEN (g, 4, American Pharoah–Richies Party Girl {MSW, $357,085}, by Any Given Saturday) became the first North American winner for his sire on debut over the Aqueduct main track just shy of two years ago and was the last of 22 lots to go through the ring for the boutique Goffs London Sale, but was retained by owner Richard Ravin on a bid of £725,000 (about $912,000) that would otherwise have topped the event. The chestnut rewarded that confidence with a victory in the G3 Prix du Bois at Chantilly, but he was only 10th in the G3 Molecomb S. the next month and was returned stateside. The front-running winner of a course-and-distance allowance first off a 342-day absence last July, Maven was a disappointing sixth in Saratoga's Mahony S. Aug. 27 and was 11th of 12 in the GIII Franklin Stamps S. at Kentucky Downs Sept. 16 before going missing. Returning here as a first-time gelding, Maven shot out of the stalls beneath John Velazquez while chased by 'TDN Rising Star' Boldor (Munnings). Maven looked vulnerable passing the eighth pole, but he finally switched his leads and he kept on well thereafter to secure a 2 1/4-length success as the 5-2 favorite. Maven is the only foal from a treble stakes-winning daughter of GSW Very Special Lite (Majestic Light), also the dam of GSW Strategic Partner (Kris S.), GSP Victory Light (Victory Gallop) and the dam of SW/GISP Light the City (Street Sense). Sales history: £725,000 RNA 2yo '19 GOFLON. Lifetime Record: GSW-Fr, 7-4-0-0, $200,338. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
O-Richard Ravin; B/T-Wesley Ward (KY).

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Midshipman Firster Gives Ward Another at Keeneland

1st-Keeneland, $59,286, Msw, 4-15, 2yo, f, 4 1/2f, :51.84, gd, 8 3/4 lengths.
AVERLY JANE (f, 2, Midshipman–Sh Sh Shakin', by Richter Scale) gave her trainer a third juvenile winner in as many days at Keeneland, rolling home to score as much the best in the Thursday opener. Sent along to vie for the lead from between rivals, the half-sister to Chattel (Giant Oak), SW, $111,540, ultimately settled outside of pacesetting Royal County through an opening quarter in a quick :21.68. She wrested command from that one in upper stretch, pinched an imposing break and was taken in hand for the final 80 yards, winning by 8 3/4 lengths as the 3-2 chalk. Chi Town Lady (Verrazano) and Nakatomi (Firing Line) won the baby maidens Sunday and Wednesday, respectively. Averly Jane's third dam includes English SW & MGSP Elrafa Ah (Storm Cat), the dam of champion and G1 Dewhurst S. winner Mujahid (Danzig). Sh Sh Shakin is the dam of a yearling colt by Brody's Cause. Sales history: $35,000 Ylg '20 FTKOCT. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $36,000. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.
O-Hat Creek Racing; B-University of Kentucky (KY); T-Wesley A Ward.

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