John Ward
 

In the summer of 2006 John Ward had three promising 3YOs in his barn......Strong Contender, Minister's Bid and Dr. Pleasure. At that time, against all reason and sanity, Mr. Ward declared that Dr. Pleasure was the best of the three.

Strong Contender beat Lawyer Ron a couple months later on that one's home ground in the Super Derby. OK, Minister's Bid was never much horse, but at least he won a race or two, I believe, earlier last year. Though, in typical Ward fashion he made very few starts. Strong Contender made very few as well.....as he broke down unfortunately.

Dr. Pleasure, you know, the best of the three? Oh, yeah, he's running in a NW1X at Gulfstream this week. One year and six months later he still hasn't won his first condition. That man is one hell of a judge of talent.

One of the worst BTW, its criminal

I was thinking this very thing when I saw that horse entered. I was going to post about it but I figured that you would have just told me that he's accomplished more in the game than I have and I had no room to comment cause I was dead wrong and you would have brought up Indian Blessing again.

Hey, I'm just glad I am helping to keep your lunacy to a minimum.

Actually, I was thinking about this because of some of the grief I have seen various posters giving trainers like Lukas, Zito and Baffert on this site. Whether you like those guys or not, and I can respect people's right to criticize them for various things, there are a lot of people who seem to remain unscathed who are far more deserving of derision.

If you took all the halters off the horses in his barn, he couldn't tell you which was which.
Just another countless example of a trainer that continually underacheives with millions in blue-blood stock.

his wife may be the talent in that barn

And, perhaps, the reason they have trouble keeping good help.

Usually when there is a woman in there they find a way to know everything and chase off decent help.

Nothing against the ladies, just my observation

trainer criticism
 

I agree. But as you know that comes with the territory of being high profile trainers who love the limelight. Most bettors would recognize the faces of Lukas, Zito or Baffert in an instant; most, however, would not know John Ward if they sat across from him at a dinner table. As for Ward, since Monarchos he surely is one the most notable underachieveing trainers anywhere given the regal pedigrees John Oxley buys or breeds each year.

But Mrs. Ward is so warm.. so friendly.. so approachable.











:rolleyes:

I met Donna Ward in 2000. I found her to be very friendly.

Wow, that is the stupidest post I have ever seen!! I am sorry I am not trying to be ugly, but agian Wow. Should they take away our right to vote too?? Hey were you the guy that as we stood in the winners circle getting out picture taken after a horse trained by my mother broke the 25yr old track, and was horse of the year "Hey Wayne, are you finally gonna get a man trainer now?".........:rolleyes:

You did better than I do then... I think I've gotten one 'Good morning' out of her in the last 7 years at Saratoga.

when is minister's bid racing again

you just gotta offer to nibble a bit on her ear ....it drives her wild and she will be putty in your hands forever after..

Somehow I don't think that will win Steve any points with Donna Ward.

PP. Sometimes they can corrupt the chemistry of a barn, especially if they come down hard on the help. I mean this with no disprespect, just an observation that I have noticed on more than one occasion.

Of course I think you should be able to vote

I wish you and your mother continued success. There are obviously some women who are very good at what they do.

Iron my shirt.

Who do you like in the race? Do you give Kaplan's gelding any shot at a decent slice the purse?

Mr. and Mrs. Ward will be signing copies of their book "How to Win a N1X With an $800,000 Yearling" at Borders later tonight.

He's the only horse in the race that basically has no chance.

There have been many rumors floating around that Mr. Ward and Mr. Oxley are parting company. Dont know the validity of this but I was told by a pretty strong source. I happened to buy a horse off them in the most recent Jan sale and this person brought the subject up after seeing that I had bought the horse.

lol! thanks.
^he's cheap but I like his recent form a little bit, i am considering using him 2nd/3rd in something.
Small field and no world beaters but it is a somewhat interesting race. Portobello Road may actually get in a decent position early, is no lock to finish 9 furlongs. I am not really high on Dr. Pleasure... Maybe Corny/Pleasure wins this with simply a forwardly placed solid run?
Giant Chieftan isn't a bad horse either, but Prado has to keep him in the ballpark and get him up to the wire.

oh yea forgot to bash Ward

I gotta agree with The Bid. Why? I love people being outraged for no good reason.

John Ward? A colossal idiot. He'd make a great politician.

Ward/Oxley
 

I know I was quite surprised when I recently saw a horse owned by Mr Oxley racing at GP not trained by Mr Ward but by Helen Pitts.

what a long .....strange trip its been.........

I don't know how owners, like oxley, that put millions into the game can withstand not getting any real results.

Overbrook still gives horse to Lukas and D. stewart.
Ed Evans still gives Mark Hening plenty of stock. I don't get it.:confused:

Loyalty I guess. And, I respect loyalty, but the John Ward situation is a bit strange. He just never even seems to run any horses. I honestly think he has started like two 2YOs in Saratoga the entire last two meets. They have horses.....why don't they ever run? On the other hand, they had some real success just seven years ago.

Overbrook doesn't seem to even have any good horses....and Ned Evans finally pretty much got away from Hennig. That is one that I could never understand.

Overbrook's racing program should certainly be much better than what it is.

I think we can guess at what the problem is there.

Nepotism?

Seems like a good way of putting it.

Gives New Meaning to the Seven Year Itch ?

McPeek
 

On the other end of the spectrum, I think a guy like Ken McPeek is one who does alot with much less in terms of overall stock. He wins with $7500 claimers as well as stakes-placed horses. His stable has a good number of horses who were purchased for $50K or less at auction and they are productive on the track. He won races at two different tracks today (2 at GP & 1 at TP) and with Stratostar yesterday, a horse he has skillfully managed. He is very good at spotting his runners and they usually are ready to run.

they probably have women there.

They do.

I don't know Ken McPeek at all, and you're right he does seem to win, but he may also have personality clashes with some owners. I seem to remember him losing a few owners before he briefly left the game.

It would be unfair to condemn anyone for this, as it's a two way street, and while sometimes ( I'm sure ) the trainer is to blame, but I am also sure that many owners are difficult to deal with. This is a primary reason that Todd Pletcher has been so successful ( along with having a great staff ). He has done a tremendous job of communicating well with owners.

Ken McPeek
 

You've raised an excellent point with which I totally agree. Communications with owners can never be underestimated in terms of importance. As far as Ken McPeek goes I remember in 2002 owner Jack Wolf fired him before the Belmont (which McPeek won with Sarava) taking Harlan's Holiday away from him after disappointments in the Derby and Preakness and gave that one to none other than Todd Pletcher.

see!

I think McPeek does a good job, across the board. He can get one to fire off any length of lay-off, which I consider an important trait in calling someone a good trainer.
However, nevermind my opinions from afar, just ask McPeek he'll tell you he is the best.:D