American trainer Wesley Ward gate-crashed the Royal Ascot party with his top-class team of two year-olds and he’s already plotting another trip back for the end-of-season features at Newmarket in October.
Ward stunned the home defence when Strike the Tiger (Tiger Ridge) won the Listed Windsor Castle Stakes and brilliant filly Jealous Again (Trippi) scored a runaway victory in the G2 Queen Mary Stakes. Jealous Again was subsequently sold to Sheikh Mohammed but Ward still has plenty of firepower in his arsenal.
Ward has nominated Mississippi Hippie (Dance Master) and Frankie Cal (Ghostzapper) for the G1 Middle Park Stakes and Crimson Glory (Ghostzapper) for the G1 Cheveley Park Stakes. “They three are bred better than the youngsters I took over to Royal Ascot,” Ward warned.
Mississippi Hippie is the only one of the trio with exposed form after winning his maiden at Belmont Park on July 11 at his first start on grass.
“Good sprint races on grass at that time of year are rare here in the United States which is why I have made the entries,” Ward explained. “If they do as well as I think they will over summer, then I will send them over in mid September.