by Jeff Lowe

Queen Mary Stakes (Eng-G2) winner Jealous Again will return to the United States on Tuesday, but she may head back across the Atlantic for the Cheveley Park Stakes (Eng-G1) this fall.

Trainer Wesley Ward was back home on Monday, awaiting the arrival of Jealous Again and the rest of his six-horse platoon that stirred up the Royal Ascot meeting last week with two stakes triumphs and a tough beat in the Golden Jubilee Stakes (Eng-G1) on Saturday.

The group will be flown into Newark International Airport on Tuesday. Once they clear quarantine, they will go to Ward’s barn at Monmouth Park.

Ward will see how Jealous Again recovers from her five-length victory in the Queen Mary, but his first inclination is to send her to Newmarket for the six-furlong Cheveley Park on October 2.

“That would give her enough time to get over a big win like this,” Ward said. “That’s certainly something we’re looking at. She’ll come back [to the U.S.] and have a little time to relax and wind down until we get to the point where we’re going to start training her. Then we’ll have a good indicator how much time she’ll need in between races.”

Cannonball, who finished second by a neck in the Golden Jubilee, will be on the return flight on Tuesday after his connections decided against another English start in the Darley July Cup Stakes (Eng-G1) on July 10.

The Catienus gelding delivered a top effort just four days after finishing sixth in the King’s Stand Stakes (Eng-G1) on opening day at Royal Ascot on June 16.

Cannonball’s owner and breeder, Ken Ramsey, received some unexpected input from Queen Elizabeth II, encouraging him to run Cannonball back in the July Cup.

Ramsey found out when he arrived at Royal Ascot on Saturday that he had been invited to have high tea with the Queen after the Golden Jubilee. He watched a race in the royal enclosure and spent about 35 minutes with her.

“It’s an honor for a little old boy from Artemus, Kentucky, to have an invitation to high tea with the Queen of England,” Ramsey said with a laugh on Monday. “It doesn’t get any better than that. I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t.”

Ramsey said he had a wide-ranging conversation with the Queen, in which she asked about his experience in England and about his 2004 champion turf male and sire Kitten’s Joy. They also talked about her visit to Kentucky in 2007. 

When the Queen asked Ramsey whether he would like cream or sugar with his tea, he said he would have his “straight up.”

“She smiled and said, ‘Just like the bourbon in Kentucky,’” Ramsey said.

Ramsey said the Queen offered that Cannonball, with his closing style, might be well-suited to the Darley July Cup, noting that the race is uphill for the final furlong.

Ramsey and Ward ultimately decided that the third race might be too much, too close together for Cannonball.

Instead, the homebred gelding will be pointed toward the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita Park on November 7 and Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Sprint (HK-G1) at Sha Tin racecourse on December 13.

Kentucky Juvenile Stakes (G3) winner Aegean was one of Ward’s few disappointments from the trip, finishing ninth in the Albany Stakes (Eng-G3) on June 19.

“She bled just a little bit without the Lasix, and she tied up a little bit with everything that was going on, with having to get to the paddock so early and this and that,” Ward said. “I think all those factors took a toll on her just a little bit.”

Ward said he would be eager to take another crack at Royal Ascot, but only with a horse that he thinks is up to the task.

“I was so, so lucky,” Ward said. “It didn’t rain, so I got the hard, firm turf. My horses were all in peak form. If I ever had a horse that was good enough to go again, I certainly would, but you’ve got to have a horse that’s on top of his game. When you go there, you’re going against the best that they have. Not only that, you have to have all that luck that I had involved, also.”

Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer