With no main track workers because of the surface being sealed as a result of overnight rain, morning workouts for Breeders' Cup hopefuls at Keeneland Oct. 25 were highlighted by breezes over the turf course, including a quartet from the barn of Wesley Ward.
Undrafted and Green Mask, Ward's Turf Sprint (gr. T) hopefuls, worked in company, getting five furlongs in 1:01 4/5 over the turf course in which the "dogs" (cones placed on the track) were placed about 30 feet out. With Undrafted on the outside and Green Mask on the inside, the pair got the first three-eighths in :37 2/5 and galloped out 1:16 for six furlongs over the course rated "good."
Ward also worked his two juvenile turfsters, with Ruby Notion (Juvenile Fillies Turf, gr. I) on the inside and Sheikh of Sheikhs (Juvenile Turf, gr. I) outside as those two also got the five furlongs in 1:01 4/5.
"Everything went great," Ward said. "The 2-year-olds went nice and the older horses went super."
Despite about 1 1/2 inches of rain in the previous 24-hour period, the Keeneland turf was in great shape, according to Ward.
"I think this is the greatest turf course in the world, he said.
Ward did say the turf was a little too deep for him to work last year's Filly & Mare Sprint champion Judy the Beauty and he will work her Monday over the main track. She did gallop on the turf Sunday.
With the Breeders' Cup less than a week away, Ward said his horses are ready for the World Championships, adding that the event being held at his home track is "a big advantage."
"They are coming from all over the world with the world's best, so you're always crossing your fingers, but you try to get them there the best you can and hope the racing luck gets you there," Ward said.
Along with The Great War, owned by Joseph Allen and the Coolmore Stud connections of Michael Tabor, Mrs. John Magnier, and Derrick Smith, Ward will have two other starters in the Turf Sprint, including 2014 third-place finisher Undrafted, a son of Purim owned by NFL star Wes Welker and Sol Kumin. Green Mask is owned by Abdullah Saeed Almaddah. The Great War galloped Sunday on the turf.
