American Rascal looks special for Wesley Ward at Royal Ascot

Lexington, Ky.

Wesley Ward knew he had something special this winter when American Rascal came into his Florida barn.

“He’d be like a high-school superstar,” he said. “He’s just a really good-feeling guy, a very confident horse. Everything we put him with, he just knows himself that he’s better in the workouts and in the races. Even for his only race.”

That race. It is the one that has resonated on both sides of the Atlantic. Even under wraps at the end of 4 1/2 furlongs April 20, the 2-year-old Curlin colt, the first foal out of Ward’s two-time Royal Ascot winner Lady Aurelia, cruised to a 10 1/2-length victory on the dirt at Keeneland.

Two months later, American Rascal may be most likely to provide Ward his 13th win in the racing and social event of the season in England. In his turf debut, he figures to be one of three shortest-priced contenders to win Thursday’s Group 2, $140,624 Norfolk Stakes, a five-furlong test that Ward and jockey Joel Rosario will try to win together for the third time.

American Rascal is one of four horses Ward sent to England to try to add to the 12 victories that have made him the winningest trainer from outside Europe to compete at Royal Ascot.

Ward also sent Twilight Gleaming on her second trip, and Bündchen and Fandom are making their first visit to the racing festival widely regarded as the most prestigious in the world. The 35 races will run Tuesday through Saturday with the first post time daily at 9:30 a.m. EDT. Live coverage of the whole meet will be shown each day on FanDuel TV. Competing coverage will be streamed live all week on Peacock with Saturday’s card televised on NBC from 9 a.m. to noon EDT.

Twilight Gleaming, who was second two years ago in the Queen Mary (G2), races against the boys Tuesday in the King’s Stand (G1). After considering two races, Ward decided to go with Fandom on Tuesday in the Coventry (G2). Bündchen will start Wednesday in the Queen Mary.

Led by Grade 1 winner Classic Causeway, five other U.S.-based horses trained by Kenny McPeek, Christophe Clément, Tom Morley and George Weaver also are expected to race this week at Ascot.

American Rascal moves to turf

Of Ward’s Royal Ascot winners, Lady Aurelia was the most impressive. Bred and owned by Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Stables, her triumphs in the 2016 Queen Mary and the 2017 King’s Stand were by a combined 10 lengths. With those bona fides on her résumé, it was no wonder American Rascal had such a highly anticipated debut two months ago.

But why on dirt?

“This particular guy is so quick and so fast that I just wanted to really be sure where I was out with him,” Ward, 55, said in an interview this month at his Keeneland barn for Horse Racing Nation’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod. “Moving through his works down when they sent him to me from Stonestreet (trainer) Ian Brennan to South Florida, we had him at Payson Park. I had Joel Rosario come up multiple times to breeze him on the dirt, and he breezed very good.”

Workouts at Payson Park, Palm Meadows and on the Tapeta track at Turfway Park followed before the move to the main track at Keeneland. That was where a bullet, 35.6-second breeze April 9 and a maintenance work the following week preceded American Rascal’s runaway debut.

It was like mother, like son. Lady Aurelia also had a lopsided win in her coming-out party on the Keeneland dirt before her jaw-dropping tour de force at Ascot. Call it horse sense that Ward used in repeating the process with American Rascal.

“I just wanted to be spot-on when I started the horse,” Ward said. “As well as his mother was along the same lines, I didn’t really see it until I’d seen it. We entered, and she ran, and she won. This guy is just about the same. He came in highly talked about by Ian Brennan, but I wanted to make sure when we led him over there, he was going to perform at his best.”

Not to ignore the sire side of American Rascal’s bloodlines. Before he was a stallion, Curlin earned his place in the Hall of Fame with two horse-of-the-year campaigns in 2007 and 2008.

“As fast as he is, he takes more after mom,” Ward said. “This guy looks like (football Hall of Famer) Herschel Walker. He’s just like a compact, speedball running back, just lightning fast, and he showed that in his race. Mentally, the thing I liked about him was that Joel was able to let him break and then ease him back as another horse wanted to go for the lead as they do in a 4 1/2-furlong race. He just tracked him, and he eased out, and when he let him go, off he went.”

American Rascal was 3-1 in early U.K. betting for the Norfolk. Elite Status was the 7-4 favorite on the strength of a 2-for-2 record in U.K. stakes, and Asadna was 4-1 after a 12-length debut win last month in Ripon, England.

Since American Rascal was shipped last week to England, it just became a matter of keeping him healthy until Thursday. As Ward put it, “You don’t want to train too hard with a horse like this that’s perfectly sound.”

Keeping up with expectations

With his history of success at Royal Ascot, Ward knows all about heightened expectations. So does Banke, who has become his most loyal benefactor when it comes to providing him horses for the annual trip across the Atlantic.

“Barbara, thank God, has caught the Royal Ascot bug from me,” Ward said. “They say Derby fever? This is the Royal Ascot bug. It’s bitten her, and she’s had success.”

Not only did Ward train Lady Aurelia to two wins for Banke but also Campanelle, who won for them in the 2020 Queen Mary and the 2021 Commonwealth Cup (G1).

“We’ve been lucky together, and she’s just a phenomenal person,” Ward said. “You get around her and get to talk to her, and she’s just a great lady. ... We’re so lucky to have her in this game, all of us, because she put so much into it.”

The widow of Stonestreet founder Jess Jackson, Banke also expects some return for her investment. Although her horses have gone a combined 4-for-12 with Ward training them at Royal Ascot, they were shut out last year. It was only the second time in the last 10 years Ward did not return home with a victory.

“Going over there, there’s a lot of expectations, especially for me, because I’ve had so much success over there,” Ward said. “You kind of come home with your head down, even though the horses ran well.”

Preparing to saddle American Rascal, Fandom and Twilight Gleaming for Stonestreet as well as Bündchen for Gonçalo Borges Torrealba’s Three Chimneys Farm, Ward said it is a matter of remembering how difficult a task it is to win a single Royal Ascot race let alone 12.

“It’s Royal Ascot,” he said. “That’s what you just have to figure. It’s like going into the Kentucky Derby or the Triple Crown or the Breeders’ Cup. It’s a big deal over there. It’s the biggest five-day meet in the world. You’ve got to kind of realize things and all the success that I’ve had over the years. You’ve just got to keep striving and doing the best you can to move forward.”