In Ward’s View, Monarchos Fit the Mold of a Champion

BALTIMORE —  Trainer John Ward makes it sound so simple. In assessing young horses that he might buy at auction, Ward rates them in three categories: size, athleticism and soundness.

The best number a horse can get from Ward for size is a 3, the maximum for athleticism a 5. The highest grade a horse can be given for soundness is an A.

So Ward’s capsule analysis of a horse can sometimes read like a shoe size. In the case of Fusaichi Pegasus, whom Ward picked out for his Japanese client, Fusao Sekiguchi, it would have been a shoe size for Goliath. Ward’s rating was 24B--2 for size, 4 for athleticism and B for soundness. Not a perfect specimen, but close to the top in all respects.

Sekiguchi paid $4 million for Fusaichi Pegasus as a yearling and last year the colt won the Kentucky Derby. Ward, whose presale understanding with Sekiguchi was that he wouldn’t train the colt, nevertheless cheered as Fusaichi Pegasus won the Derby for trainer Neil Drysdale.

In February of last year, Ward found another 24B, this time in Florida at the Fasig-Tipton sale of 2-year-olds in training. This colt’s price was only $170,000. Bought by John Oxley, an Oklahoma oilman and Ward’s principal client, the horse was named Monarchos. That’s the same Monarchos who is the 2-1 favorite Saturday at Pimlico, where he will try to add the Preakness to a Triple Crown resume that began with a convincing win in the Kentucky Derby two weeks ago.

When horses are offered for sale as 2-year-olds, they audition for potential buyers with quarter-mile workouts. This yet-to-be-named son of Maria’s Mon and the broodmare Regal Band clicked off a couple of very fast 22-second times in that role.

“I watched him, and wasn’t sure he was traveling that fast,” Ward said Thursday as he recalled the Fasig-Tipton sale. “I thought to myself that either the clocks were wrong or he was deceptively quick.”

Monarchos’ price was relatively low--he had been sold the year before, by breeder Jim Squires to horse speculator Murray Smith, for $100,000--because Maria’s Mon was an unproven sire. Maria’s Mon was voted the country’s best 2-year-old male in 1995 but his career ended prematurely in 1996 because of injuries, and Monarchos was one of dozens of foals from his first crop. At the time, the stud fee to breed a mare to Maria’s Mon was only $7,500. It was only $12,500 this year, but after Monarchos, look out above.

As a 2-year-old, Monarchos was a medium-sized horse at best. He might have qualified as a 2-minus rather than a straight 2 on Ward’s scale. But Ward has always remembered something his father--the respected Kentucky horseman, John T. Ward Sr.--told him: “When a horse looks small but neat, he’ll usually turn out to be a very well balanced animal.”

Monarchos is all of that, and Ward says now that the light gray colt has deceptive size.

“The closer you get to him, the bigger he becomes,” the 55-year-old trainer said. “From far back, he appears to be smaller than he really is.”

In a stunning departure from conventional training methods, Ward has sent Monarchos through only two timed workouts, one unintentional, since his second-place finish behind Congaree in the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 14. Monarchos worked half a mile at Churchill Downs on April 27--eight days before the Derby--and last Monday at Pimlico, the clockers gave him a 1:52 4/5 time for a mile, even though his spin around the track here was really just an accelerated gallop.

By contrast, Congaree, who is the 5-2 second choice on the Preakness morning line, has recorded three workouts since the Wood, all full-tilt drills in fast times.

Monarchos became the first horse since Bold Forbes in 1976 to win the Derby without working the week of the race. Two days during Derby week, Ward didn’t even bring Monarchos out of his stall at Churchill Downs, fueling rumors that the colt might not be 100%.

Ward knew his horse, and horseplayers needed to know Ward before they dismissed Monarchos. Another precept the trainer remembers from his formative years came from another of his mentors, the legendary Woody Stephens: “There’s no set way to do this. Every horse is different.”

The difference between Monarchos and most of the other horses in the Derby and Preakness is that he likes to train hard, sometimes to his detriment.

“He gallops the way some horses breeze [in workouts],” Ward said. “If I had put him on a regular workout routine, he would have overdone it.”

Trainer Wayne Lukas, who didn’t run a horse in the Kentucky Derby for the first time since 1980, will also miss the Preakness, for only the second time since 1985. . . . A revised weather forecast may result in a fast track for the Preakness.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Preakness Field

The field, in post-position order, for Saturday’s 126th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. Post time: 3 p.m. PDT. TV: Channel 4.

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PP Horse Jockey Trainer Odds 1. Marciano Mark Johnston Tim Ritchey 30-1 2. Mr. John Corey Nakatani Elliott Walden 20-1 3. Griffinite Shaun Bridgmohan Jennifer Leigh-Pedersen 50-1 4. A P Valentine Victor Espinoza Nick Zito 10-1 5. Congaree Jerry Bailey Bob Baffert 5-2 6. Richly Blended Rick Wilson Ben Perkins Jr. 10-1 7. Monarchos Jorge Chavez John Ward Jr. 2-1 8. Percy Hope Jon Court Tony Reinstedler 50-1 9. Bay Eagle Ramon Dominguez Graham Motion 30-1 10. Dollar Bill Pat Day Dallas Stewart 12-1 11. Point Given Gary Stevens Bob Baffert 3-1

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Weight: 126 pounds each. Distance: 1 3/16 miles.

Purse: $1 million. First place: $650,000; second place: $200,000; third place: $100,000; fourth place: $50,000.

Owners (by post position): 1. Win More Stable. 2. Thomas Van Meter II. 3. Ernie Paragallo. 4. Ol Memorial Stable & Michael Tabor. 5. Stonerside Stable. 6. Raymond Dweck. 7. John Oxley. 8. Waterfall Stable. 9. Lazy Lane Farm. 10. Gary & Mary West. 11. The Thoroughbred Corporation