Ex New Zealander Cut Me Loose joins US stables of Wesley Ward
Cut Me Loose is now under the care of Wesley Ward, the first United States-based conditioner to ship a horse to England and win a stakes race at the Royal Ascot meeting.
A former Group One-winning jockey, he produced Strike the Tiger to win the 2009 Listed Windsor Castle Stakes (1000m) and the following day stablemate Jealous Again claimed the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes (1000m).
Ward has since won the Group 1 Diamond Jubilee Stakes (1200m) in 2015 with Undrafted, who beat Chris Waller’s Brazen Beau, and last year claimed the Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes (1000m) with Lady Aurelia.
His Kiwi import Cut Me Loose is raced by Westbury Stud principal Gerry Harvey, who stands the four-year-old’s sire Swiss Ace at his Karaka operation.
“He had four starts in New Zealand for two wins and ran third in the Wellington Guineas,” former trainer Shaune Ritchie said.
“He’s a very talented horse, but he had a bleed in trackwork and I said to (Westbury Stud manager) Russell Warwick that I wasn’t that comfortable about getting the horse back to the races.
“We had a talk about it and suggested Gerry send him to America where he can run on Lasix to help the bleeding.
“The horse is currently in Miami and they are very happy with him. I’ve spoken on the phone with Wes a couple of times.
“He races on both coasts and he’s invited us over there so we’d love to go and see how they do things.”