Courtesy of the Thoroughbred Times
by Jeff Lowe
Owner Ken Ramsey is brushing up on etiquette and preparing to don a top hat and tailcoat next week at Royal Ascot. Ramsey owns two of the six horses trainer Wesley Ward shipped to England for the prestigious meet. The venture started with Ramsey, who thought his multiple stakes winner Cannonball would be a good fit for both the King’s Stand Stakes (Eng-G1) on Tuesday’s opening-day card and the Golden Jubilee Stakes (Eng-G1) four days later in the finale.
Cannonball is a two-time stakes winner. One of those victories, as a two-year-old in the King Cugat Stakes at Belmont Park, came five days before a third-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Monmouth Park. The homebred Catienus gelding has just missed in his last two starts. He finished second by a head in the Shakertown Stakes (G3) on April 11 at Keeneland Race Course and second by a neck in the Aegon Turf Sprint Stakes (G3) on May 1 at Churchill Downs.
“We were planning on taking Cannonball over there all along,” Ramsey said from his office at Ramsey Farm in Nicholasville, Kentucky, on Thursday. “He fits the profile of what it takes to win over there. He’s really good on grass and he likes a little cut in the ground. We expect the turf course to be soft or good or yielding, not hard like around here [in Kentucky] or in California. So we think the ground will suit this horse.”
Ramsey’s other Royal Ascot prospect is Honor in Peace, a two-year-old Peace Rules colt who will run on opening day in the Coventry Stakes (Eng-G2). Honor in Peace scored a maiden win by five lengths on May 13 at Churchill in his second career start. Ward has four other two-year-olds, including Kentucky Juvenile Stakes (G3) winner Aegean and runner-up Jealous Again , lined up for stakes races at Royal Ascot.
John Velazquez will ride all six of Ward’s charges. “We got to talking about how there wasn’t any place to run the two-year-olds Wesley won with at Keeneland and at Churchill Downs, so I said, ‘Why don’t we take some two-year-olds and have a bunch over there?’ ” Ramsey said. Ward’s other owners agreed, and the group departed from Atlanta on June 4.
Ramsey has been hoping to have a good reason to return to Royal Ascot ever since his previous trip there with his wife, Sarah, in 2001. The Ramseys started Steaming Home, a filly trained in Ireland by Dermot Weld. She finished second by a neck in a five-furlong race under jockey Frankie Dettori in a field of 24. Cannonball was one of 19 horses left eligible for the King’s Stand at the five-day confirmation stage on Wednesday.
“It’s going to be a shootout,” Ramsey said. Sarah Ramsey is unable to make the trip this time as she continues to recover from the serious stroke she suffered in 2007. Ken Ramsey said his sister and daughter will care for Sarah while he is away.
Nine other members of the family will join Ken Ramsey in England. He leaves on Friday afternoon. “A member of the royal family presents the trophy for every race, so we’re practicing up on our etiquette on how to greet the queen, what to say and what not to say. ...” Ramsey said . “I’m leaving my bib overalls at home. They even want you to have button-up shoes, none of this loafer stuff. This is supposed to be ‘it.’ I’m getting a fresh haircut and I guess I’ll look about as good as I can look.”
Velazquez will ride at Royal Ascot through June 19, according to his agent, Racing Hall of Fame jockey Angel Cordero Jr. Cordero said he rode at Royal Ascot one time in his career. “I rode a few races and it was a great experience, but Johnny’s trip will be better—he’s going to be there the whole week,” Cordero said.