Tuesday 27 August 2013 17:02, UK
Wesley Ward has revealed unbeaten juvenile No Nay Never is unlikely to run again this year as the American trainer targets a return to Royal Ascot in 2014.
Although No Nay Never has yet to encounter a distance beyond six furlongs in his three starts to date, Ward has no doubt the mile of the St James's Palace Stakes will not be a problem. He said: "In all three of his races he has kept running. He hasn't been holding on at the end and I think a mile is 100% within his reach. "The St James's Palace is a very prestigious and important race in Europe, it's an important stallions' race and I think that is an attainable target for him. "If we give him a little breather now, give him a physical break and some time to get himself together, I hope he can go and show how good he can be as a three-year-old, just as he has dominated at two. "We could pick him up in the middle of November, right after the Breeders' Cup, and then start building him up again." No Nay Never is likely to be first campaigned in America before crossing the Atlantic for Royal Ascot. "The first race I have in mind for him is the Transylvania Stakes, which is usually run on the first Friday in April on the awesome grass course at Keeneland," said Ward. "It is a Grade Three race over a mile and sixteenth on the turf and it would be a good place to start him as he would not be meeting the best three-year-old milers. "Hopefully then he could run in the Crown Royal American Turf Stakes, which is run on Kentucky Derby day at Churchill Downs (early May). "That would be a stiffer test than his first run of the year at Keeneland and would give us five or six weeks then to get him to Royal Ascot. We will see how things progress and I will talk to the Coolmore boys, but that is the plan I am looking at. "I couldn't be happier with him and he is an amazingly sound horse considering all the travelling he has done. We are just so privileged and blessed to have a colt like him."
