Before joining the Ward stable, she was assistant to D. Wayne Lukas, Pat Byrne, and Randy Bradshaw.
Assistant trainer Yvonne Azeff, who suffered a serious head injury after being unseated by the stable pony Saturday, remained unconscious Tuesday at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Fla."The doctors are being pretty guarded," trainer John Ward said. "They feel she should be regaining consciousness by now. The longer she stays unconscious the more pessimistic they become. There is hemorhaging in the brain and her pupils haven't begun to respond yet. She is still on a respirator. The way they explained it, there was a whiplash effect when her head was slammed to the ground, and the brain stem got kind of gnarled."Azeff, 41, was a major factor in last year's Kentucky Derby victory by Monarchos, who became her pet project when he first arrived at the barn. It was Azeff who saw the colt's potential immediately.