Weaver Ready for Another Assault on Royal Ascot

[Wandering Eyes]

When it comes to American trainers winning races at Royal Ascot, Wesley Ward has no equal. He's won 12 races there. But he might want to look over his shoulder as there's another American trainer intent on winning races at the prestigious meet.

In 2023, George Weaver won the G2 Queen Mary Stakes with Crimson Advocate (Nyquist) for his first Royal Ascot winner. This year, he'll be back with Sandal's Song (Mendelssohn), the winner of last Saturday's Royal Palm Juvenile at Gulfstream. The Royal Palm is a qualifier race for the Ascot meet. Sent off at 7-1, he won the Royal Palm by 1 1/2 lengths. He will go next in the G1 Norfolk Stakes June 19.

“This horse is a very nice horse,” Weaver said. “Maybe a little better than the others I have sent over there.”

Weaver has taken advantage of the Gulfstream preps for Royal Ascot. He won both the filly and the colt race in 2023 with Crimson Advocate and No Nay Mets (Ire) (No Nay Never), who was ninth in the Norfolk and is owned by Boston Red Sox slugger Alex Bregman. His only other Ascot starter was Cyclogenisis (Stormy Atlantic) who was 14th in the G1 Commonwealth Cup in 2015.

“I'm excited,” Weaver said. “It's a really cool place to go. I even thought that before when we went with Crimson Advocate. We had gone with Cyclogenisis in 2015 and I was thinking what a cool place and that I wanted to come back.”

Weaver employs ready use of the Royal Palm Stakes races (there is one for fillies and one for colts), sending out ready-to-win horses that he believes can handle the competition at Royal Ascot. Crimson Advocate won the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies Stakes before going over to Ascot. With John Velazquez aboard, she won by a nose at 9-1.

“Crimson Advocate was very talented and she won the Gulfstream race very nicely,” Weaver said. “I didn't think when we went over there that we'd be taking a back seat to anyone. If she translated her form and her race from Gulfstream I thought she would get in done.”

Weaver is a top trainer, one who is good in all categories, but thanks to his success at Royal Ascot and in several other turf stakes in the U.S., he is developing a reputation as a specialist when it comes to turf sprinters.

“Those kinds of horses are getting sent my way,” he said. “Once you have some success with these kinds of horses, more and more people want to give you horses similar to the ones you've been winning with. I can't make them run early. I can't make them grass sprinters. They are what they are. If I get them early enough, and I can get them in our program and they can hold up to the process, we can do it.”

Weaver has another Royal Ascot starter for this year. He will also send the 2-year-old Tough Critic (Caravaggio), who broke his maiden Apr. 24 on the turf at Keeneland. Weaver is not sure yet which race that horse will run in, but said it will likely either be in the Norfolk Stakes or the G2 Coventry Stakes. Flavien Prat was aboard for that colt's maiden win.

He's not sure who will ride Sandal's Song. Luca Panici was aboard for the Royal Palm win, but Weaver could easily find a more accomplished jockey. He said the final decision will be left up to the owner, Dew Sweepers, a syndicate headed by Kentucky-based Jack Goldthorpe and Florida-based Ciaran Dunne.

“I usually don't like changing jockeys but I will leave it up to the owners,” he said.

As far as Ward goes, Weaver said he has been very gracious and helpful.

“Wesley's reputation speaks for itself,” Weaver said. “He's great at the baby game. He has had a lot of success at Ascot way before anyone else in America. When it is time to go over there you always ask him questions–where to train, how to train, what to do? I'm friendly enough with him that I'm comfortable asking for pointers and he's happy to give them out.”

Weaver's success in turf sprints has people paying attention. But he knows he has to keep winning to attract the top horses and owners.

“Obviously, it's kept going and I have two horses coming over this year,” he said. “You hope it keeps coming. But it never keeps coming for no reason. You have to keep succeeding. If you don't have success, they won't keep coming. A lot of it boils down to the horses you have in your barn and I'm thankful to the owners who support me.”

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