By Kelsey Riley
Last year's Cartier champion 2-year-old filly Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy) will make her seasonal debut in Saturday's Listed Giant's Causeway S. over 5 1/2 furlongs on the turf at Keeneland. The Wesley Ward trainee, who races under the ownership of Stonestreet Stables, George Bolton and Peter Leidel, earned 'TDN Rising Star' status when breaking her maiden on debut at Keeneland a year ago prior to shipping to Royal Ascot to take the G2 Queen Mary S. in one of the most eye-catching performances of the week. She headed to France for her next assignment, winning the G1 Prix Morny, but lost her unbeaten tag when third in the G1 Cheveley Park S. at Newmarket on Sept. 24.
“I'm very happy with the filly and looking forward to getting her started,” said Ward. “The race on Saturday is not a graded race, but it's for 3-year-olds and up and some of the best turf sprinting fillies will be there.”
Ward said Lady Aurelia would likely be entered for both the five furlong G1 King's Stand S. against elders on opening day at Royal Ascot, and the six furlong G1 Commonwealth Cup for 3-year-olds later in the week.
“This will be her prep race for Ascot, where I think the King's Stand will be her target,” he said. “With her being a 3-year-old we'll probably enter her up for the Commonwealth Cup as well, but I think she's better over five furlongs.”
If she lines up in the King's Stand, Lady Aurelia could face her former Ward stablemate Acapulco (Scat Daddy), winner of the 2015 Queen Mary. The 4-year-old filly is now in the care of Aidan O'Brien and, as detailed by O'Brien in a stable tour for the TDN, is set to be covered by Galileo (Ire) before a 2017 campaign.
“I wish Aidan the best of luck, but I wish myself a little bit more luck,” Ward quipped. “Acapulco is a big monster, whereas Lady Aurelia is more of a Mighty Mouse.”
Ward has become synonymous with Royal Ascot through his success particularly with juveniles at the meeting, and the trainer detailed his potential 2017 arsenal.
“I've got a couple of 2-year-old fillies who won last week and I think both are pretty good,” he said. “Fairyland is a very good filly by Scat Daddy, owned by Coolmore. She won very nicely at Keeneland the other day. Happy Like A Fool, who won a couple of days later, is a Distorted Humor filly that I bred myself. She won brilliantly and I think she'll be effective on the dirt and the turf. This is a very exciting time of year and you know me with Ascot–it's what I live for.”
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