Wesley Ward ‘excited' to mount Morny challenge with Outfielder
However, he was ruled out of the the trip to Britain following a late setback and for the first time in a decade his trainer did not have a runner at the summer showpiece meeting in Berkshire.
But two months on, Ward is gunning for more Group One glory on European soil in a race he has previously won with No Nay Never (2013), Lady Aurelia (2016) and Campanelle (2020).
'Outfielder left Keeneland yesterday (Wednesday), so away we go,' he said.
'He's flying right now, doing great and everything is wonderful. He's had some excellent morning breezes and I'm so excited to get this guy going.
'He won bounding away on his only start. It was a little bit of a rush job to get him to Ascot and he told us he hadn't quite recovered from his first effort to be ready for his next, but now he's ready.'
No Nay Never, Lady Aurelia and Campanelle had all struck Royal Ascot gold before following up at Deauville and while Ward admits Outfielder lacks that high-level match practice, he feels there is some upside in the fact he will line up fresh.
'He doesn't have quite the experience the others did because the others had two runs. They'd all run at home and run at Ascot,' the trainer added.
'This horse does have a bit better spacing in that all the others came back to America after Ascot and then had to travel again back to France, so he's got better spacing from race to race.
'His last workout was an eye-opener at Keeneland. He worked in company with a horse called Longshoreman, who is out of Lady Pauline, who actually ran at Ascot in a race prior to the Royal meeting a few years ago and finished second.
'Longshoreman finished second on his debut at Keeneland and then bounded away by many lengths, just like Outfielder did, so when we worked them together last week I was kind of unsure what would happen, but Outfielder just ran away from him.
'He would relish fast ground, that's for sure. It's always a question mark at Deauville, but right now he's doing great and we're excited about running him.'
Ward is named as a part-owner of Outfielder alongside Kia Joorabchian's Amo Racing operation and former professional baseball player Jayson Werth, who is set to make the trip to France.
Ward, who also confirmed Amo Racing's retained rider David Egan is set to be on board, said: 'Jayson is a wonderful guy and it's great to have a great sportsman like him be involved in such a nice horse. We're excited about that as well.'
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