Leading American trainer Wesley Ward has always had a place in his heart for Royal Ascot, bringing over a team of runners every year to compete in the prestigious five day meeting.
With the current situation that the world has been tackling has left British racing up in the air and although Royal Ascot is set to take place on June 16th there has been no word whether it actually will go ahead and there has been no decision over whether horses from different countries will be allowed to enter the meeting.
Since 2009, Ward has had ten winners at the meeting with seven of those at the two year old level. This year he is set to have his strongest ever team of runners with a horse for each of the three Group One sprint races.
It was revealed by Boris Johnson on Monday that no sport in Britain can be staged until June 1st which sparked bookmakers Coral to cut Royal Ascot going ahead to 4/11, which is not something Ward will like to see.
Ascot have yet to comment on what will be happening with the royal meeting but more will be expressed to the racing world this week when the resumption of racing group is due to meet via video conference.
The US handler is apprehensively awaiting the decision as to what will happen to the five day meeting.
Watch her go! Lady Aurelia (7-2) stops the clock at a little over 57 seconds in a scorching King's Stand Stakes pic.twitter.com/ltSMLtLvY8
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) June 20, 2017
(Credit Racing Post) He said: "I'm very optimistic and Ascot is at the forefront of what we want to do, each and every year. I have been in touch with the shipping companies and we're just monitoring the dates and waiting for when things can happen. I'm waiting for the green light for when the horses can travel. We're in place and ready to go.
"We're just waiting on what will happen with Ascot, I have horses who I want to send. I had some English staff that came over to work in the winter but they went home due to their visas. They're sitting at home now but if I do send horses over then I'll have helpers over in England, so I just need to send the horses over. We can communicate over FaceTime and we would manage it without physically being there."
Ward has had some special talents in his yard over the years including Lady Aurelia, Acapulco and now leading sire No Nay Never and he is hoping he can find another superstar in his ranks but does feel the juvenile races could be scrapped at Royal Ascot this year.
He added: "I know racing will start June 1 but does that mean they'll have Ascot on the same date or realign it for a different day? I don't know. You don't know if they'll have two-year-old races either.
"Everyone I've spoken to at Ascot is unsure and having few two-year-old races makes you scratch your head about how it will work. It'd just be a bunch of maidens in the race, I'm not sure how it would all work out."