Wesley Ward | Horse Racing Free Tips

Wesley Ward Ships Live Chance To Del Mar For Saturday’s Best Pal

When Wesley Ward ships one in – standby. Mr. Ward does not come to play, be it anywhere in the U.S., or Europe, too. The man fires bullets from coast to coast and across the ocean.

Eight times already he's rung the stakes bell at Del Mar and Saturday he's aiming for another gong with a quick 2-year-old colt named Roderick, who ran away and hid from a straight maiden field at Belmont Park in New York on June 21 in his lone outing and – in a lineup that lacks a stakes winner – looks like a solid favorite for the 50th edition of the Best Pal Stakes.

The race, a six-panel spin for juveniles that carries Grade II status and a $150,000 purse, has drawn a field of seven runners and Roderick has drawn post No. 4 and Del Mar's leading rider, Flavien Prat. Ward, the former Eclipse Award winning jockey (top apprentice, 1984), is likely to watch his charge run from his headquarters in Lexington as his west coast guy – trainer Blake Heap – saddles his Into Mischief colt Saturday for his ownership group that goes under the name Breeze Easy.

The local hope with the best chance to outfoot the youthful invader appears to be Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners' Herd Immunity, a Union Rags offspring who won at first asking in a straight maiden race at Santa Anita in early June, then was shipped to Churchill Downs where he ran third in the Bashford Manor Stakes on June 27. For his go in the Best Pal, the Peter Miller-trained colt will be partnered by Abel Cedillo and break from post No. 5.

Here's the full field (in post position order with riders and morning line odds) for the 2-year-old headliner that is a key prep to the meet's top event for the juvenile set, the Grade I, $250,000 Del Mar Futurity on closing day, Labor Day, September 7:

Strauss, Suarez or Tsukashima's Sonic Brees (Umberto Rispoli, 6-1); Reddam Racing's Ambivalent (Mario Gutierrez, 5-1); Kaleem Shah's Schnell (Ruben Fuentes, 12-1); Roderick; Herd Immunity; Drakos or Hanson's Weston (Drayden Van Dyke, 5-1), and Altamira Racing Stable's Girther (Ricky Gonzalez, 6-1).

Weston, who is trained by Ryan Hanson, broke his maiden in good fashion at Santa Anita on June 21. The Kentucky-bred gelding by the War Front stallion Hit It a Bomb, has had three solid works at Del Mar since and gets his chance to step up a notch Saturday.

Girther, also trained by Peter Miller, scored his initial victory in his second start here at Del Mar on July 11, hanging on for a nose tally at five furlongs. He's a Florida-bred colt by the Giant's Causeway stallion Brody's Cause.

The Best Pal will go as the sixth race on an 11-race card that also features the Grade II, $150,000 Yellow Ribbon Handicap for fillies and mares. First post Saturday is at 2 p.m.

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Midshipman’s Wink Wires the Colleen

Wink, a debut winner at this trip over the Belmont lawn June 12, made it two-for-two with a front-running victory at Monmouth Sunday. The chestnut filly sprinted right out to the early lead and raced keenly through an opening quarter in :21.12. In front by three lengths entering the straight, the favorite held sway over her late-closing stablemate Flying Aletha.

“We liked her as soon as we got her on the grass,” said winning trainer Wesley Ward. “You put her on the turf and she flies. She’s all go and she’s five-eighths, so this suited her perfectly. She’s a very fast filly.”

Flying Aletha, a first-out winner in an off-turfer at Gulfstream in May, was making her stateside return following a 10th-place effort in the G3 Albany S. at Royal Ascot June 19.

“She is going to be all right,” Ward said of the runner-up. “She went over to Ascot and came back and that can take a little toll on them sometimes, but she ran a good race here. I wasn’t quite sure which one was better. Wink showed us a lot on the grass, but the other one looked very good when we had her in Florida. Flying Aletha is a bigger filly, so maybe the longer they go the better she will be.”

In foal to Midnight Storm, Dancing My Way sold for $2,500 at the 2018 Keeneland November sale. Her Midnight Storm filly sold for $25,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton November sale. The mare produced a filly by Good Samaritan this year and was bred back to Maximus Mischief. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

COLLEEN S., $76,500, Monmouth, 8-2, 2yo, f, 5fT, :56.74, fm.
1–WINK, 120, f, 2, by Midshipman
                1st Dam: Dancing My Way, by Wildcat Heir
                2nd Dam: Clever Me, by Not For Love
                3rd Dam: Lady Clever Trick, by Clever Trick
($50,000 Wlg ’18 KEENOV; $110,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP).
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-Stonestreet Stables LLC; B-Tony
Citarrella & RAM Racing (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward; J-Antonio A.
Gallardo. $45,000. Lifetime Record: 2-2-0-0, $80,200.
2–Flying Aletha, 120, f, 2, Tiznow–Afleet Honey, by Uncle Mo.
($100,000 Wlg ’18 KEENOV; $175,000 Ylg ’19 FTKJUL). O-CJ
Thoroughbreds; B-Tami D Bobo (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward.
$15,000.
3–Kewpie Doll, 118, f, 2, Street Boss–Burning Faith, by Cat
Thief. ($7,500 Ylg ’19 FTKOCT). O-Maxis Stable; B-Allen
Poindexter & Kevin Welsh (KY); T-Cathal A. Lynch. $7,500.
Margins: 3/4, 2 1/4, 2. Odds: 1.20, 1.90, 11.90.
Also Ran: Stellar Grace, My Beautiful Belle, Mavilus, Moochie. Scratched: Steal My Sunshine.

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Outwork Colt Green But Good Sprinting on Spa Lawn

5th-Saratoga, $72,000, Msw, 7-26, 2yo, 5 1/2fT, 1:02.36, fm.
OUTADORE (c, 2, Outwork–Adore You {SP, $276,240}, by Tactical Cat) was let go at 6-1 as the less fancied of a pair of juvenile runners saddled by a trainer whose prowess with young horses–especially on turf–is well documented, and he proved to be the “right” Ward while providing his first-crop sire (by Uncle Mo) with a second winner and first on the lawn. Irad Ortiz, Jr. had ridden Outadore’s stablemate River Tiber (War Front) to a fourth-place run on debut at Belmont June 12, but landed on Outadore this time off a fairly unassuming worktab and it was soon clear why. Away well in typical Ward fashion, Outadore chased two-time runner-up filly Mad Maddy (American Pharoah) through an opening quarter in :21.63 and half in :44.77. The grey had his head cocked towards the stands a bit as he challenged for command in upper stretch, and he took over while racing greenly before pulling away to a 2 3/4-length graduation. Mad Maddy held off River Tiber to be second. The winner is half to Piedi Bianchi (Overanalyze), MSW & MGISP, $476,700. His dam, who was at one point claimed for $12,500 before finishing a close third at long odds turf sprinting in the 2007 Buffalo Trace Franklin County S. at Keeneland, is a half to a stakes-winning juvenile who was second in the 2012 GII Adirondack S. over the local main track. Outwork was also responsible for the debuting runner-up in Sunday’s second race, a maiden special weight for New York-breds on the dirt. Outadore is bred on a version of the same Uncle Mo over Storm Cat as Sunday’s Ellis romper Dream Quist (Nyquist). Sales history: $140,000 Wlg ’18 KEENOV; $290,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: 1-1-0-0, $39,600. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
O-Breeze Easy, LLC; B-Deann Baer & Greg Baer DVM (KY); T-Wesley A. Ward.

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July 26 Insights

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency

WELL-RELATED JUVENILES DEBUT AT THE SPA

5th-SAR, $72K, Msw, 2yo, 5fT, 3:28p.m.

Wesley Ward unveils Breeze Easy’s $290,000 KEESEP purchase OUTADORE (Outwork) in this turf sprint. Out of SP Adore You (Tactical Cat), the gray is a half to SW & MGISP Piedi Bianchi (Overanalyze) and SW Mine Reader (Gemologist). American Gentleman (American Pharoah) also makes his career bow in this spot. The $240,000 KEESEP buy is out of a half-sister to GISW Connect (Curlin) and MSW Tani Maru (Cherokee Run). Shug McGaughey saddles another well-relates firster in Joe Allen homebred Fulco (War Front). The bay’s dam SP Verdura (Smart Strike) is a half to MSW & GSP War Officer (Grand Slam), SW Doo Lang (Pulpit) and MGSP Danceland (Tapit). This is also the family of Group 1 winner War Command (War Front) and GSW Naval Officer (Tale of the Cat). TJCIS PPs

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