Ward Using Unbridled Sidney as Royal Ascot Prep for Acapulco

Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith’s Acapulco is looking for another victory before heading to Royal Ascot in Saturday’s featured event at Churchill Downs, the $65,000-added Unbridled Sidney Overnight Stakes, where she will break from the rail as the 5-2 morning line favorite against seven other fillies and mares.

 

Trained by Wesley Ward, the daughter of Scat Daddy won at Royal Ascot last year as a 2-year-old taking the Queen Mary (Group 2) in only the second start of her career. She then followed this victory with a runner-up effort in the Coolmore Nunthorpe Stakes (Group 1) at York, where she faced older horses.

 

“This is exactly what you would expect from a $750,000 purchase,” Ward said via telephone. “She’s always been an immensely talented filly and has had no physical issues whatsoever.”

 

Ward plans on sending Acapulco to Royal Ascot following the Unbridled Sidney to make a start in either the King’s Stand on June 14 or the Commonwealth Cup on June 17. Both races are Group I events.

 

“She’s a big and imposing filly and that being said after she ran last year against older horses in England, I just wanted to give her time to develop and mature,” Ward said. “Mr. [Michael] Tabor and I sat down and mapped out a plan after her race at York and we decided that the race we would be going to target were those two [the King’s Stand and the Commonwealth Cup].”

 

The Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (GI) on Nov. 5 at Santa Anita is long-term goal for Acapulco.

 

“We would like to culminate with the Breeders’ Cup,” Ward said. “She’s an immensely talented turf sprinter. With horses as fast as her you want to get her as sound as possible. She would likely have three more starts before the Breeders’ Cup. The July Cup (Group I) at Newmarket is race we would like to target. Unfortunately in the U.S. there aren’t very many big turf sprint races. Everything here is centered around the dirt and it would be nice to see that change some in the next few years.”

 

Jockey Robby Albarado, who guided the filly to a third-place effort in her career debut at Churchill Downs last year, will return to the irons.

 

Ward also trains Tesalina, who will be breaking from post 7 in the Unbridled Sidney.

 

“She’s coming in very, very well,” Ward said of Tesalina. “She was hit on the starting gate in her last race [the Giant’s Causeway on April 16 at Keeneland]. After the race she was bleeding out of the nose and we scoped her and it was nothing internal in her lungs; it was in her sinus membranes. I don’t know exactly where it occurred but it had an effect on the outcome.”

 

Julien Leparoux will pilot Tesalina.

 

The field for the Unbridled Sidney, from the inside post out (with jockey, weight): Acapulco (Albarado, 116), Late Spring (Corey Lanerie, 121), Fonepferesh (IRE) (Gary Stevens, 121), Two Wonders (Willie Martinez, 121), Amarachi (Sophie Doyle, 121), Calypso Run (Brian Hernandez Jr., 121), Tesalina (CHI) (Leparoux, 121) and Lindisfarne (Florent Geroux, 121).