HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – When you think of Royal Ascot, the first name that comes to mind, at least in the United States, is trainer Wesley Ward, who has already saddled a dozen winners over that hallowed ground and is gearing up for another trip across the pond for the 2023 meet. For Ward, the path to Royal Ascot will pass through Gulfstream Park on Saturday where he will send out Holding the Line in the $100,000 Royal Palm Juvenile and Ocean Mermaid in the $100,000 Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies. Both races offer automatic berths into one of the six juvenile stakes to be run during the June 20-24 Royal Ascot meet along with an equine travel stipend of $25,000. The two stakes, to be decided at five furlongs on the turf, will serve as the second and fifth legs of a Rainbow 6 sequence that offers a mandatory payout with a pool likely to reach nearly $4 million if not hit Thursday or Friday. Ward acknowledged that these races have been on his radar since they were first announced earlier this year. They are the first ever automatic qualifying races for Royal Ascot in the United States. “Certainly, we’ve been looking at it from the outset since Ascot, especially the 2-year-old stakes, are high on my priority list every year,” Ward said. John Velazquez will be in town to ride both Ward runners. :: Take your handicapping to the next level and play with FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic.  Holding the Line, purchased by Steve Cauthen at the 2022 Tattersalls October yearling sales, will face nine rivals in the Royal Palm. The competition includes Reaper, a runaway debut winner on dirt here last month, and Blast Furnace, who finished a distant second to Ward’s Fandom when debuting over the turf on April 27 at Keeneland. Holding the Line is by Group 2 winner Soldier’s Call out of the unraced Street Kitty, which makes him a half-brother to Sir Busker, who was a Group 2 winner and Group 1-placed during his racing career. Ward had hoped to get a start for Holding the Line prior to the stakes but was unable to do so due to a lack of opportunities on the grass this spring at Keeneland. “There was only one turf race and every trainer was allowed only one horse in the race if it oversubscribed and that entrant was Fandom,” said Ward, who sent out Fandom to an easy 6 3/4-length triumph on April 27 to punch his ticket to Royal Ascot. “He’s a beautiful colt,” Ward said of Holding the Line. “He improved in his workouts at Palm Meadows on the grass and he’s bred top to bottom for turf.” Reaper drew off to win at first asking here by 5 3/4 lengths going 4 1/2 furlongs on April 21 but has never trained on grass. He is by Brethren, who has not had a lot of success siring turf winners, although he is a half to Bernie the Maestro, who did win twice over the surface. Blast Furnace was second-best behind Fandom when launching his career just 16 days earlier for trainer George Weaver. He will race with blinkers for the first time Saturday. “He wasn’t 100 percent fit mentally or physically for that race, and I thought he ran well although he wasn’t competitive with Wesley’s horse,” Weaver said. “But he has room for a lot of improvement and he showed just enough greenness in his first race to justify trying blinkers to keep him a little more focused.” Ocean Mermaid, who Ward has in the Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies, is by three time Group 1 winner Kingman out of the Frankel mare Sparkling Surf. Like Holding the Line, she was purchased at the Tattersalls October sales, by Stonestreet, with a potential trip to Royal Ascot in mind. :: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures “She’s a turf filly but unfortunately there has been only one turf race in America, that being the colt race at Keeneland,” Ward said. “The filly race there was rained off the grass. She had a nice breeze at Payson after we sent her back down there and she’s ready to go.” Weaver will be represented in the Juvenile Fillies by Crimson Advocate, who finished third in a 4 1/2-furlong maiden special weight dash decided over the main track last month at Keeneland. “She hasn’t worked on the grass, but her mom won a race on the synthetic and she has enough turf influence in her pedigree,” Weaver noted. “She’s quick and precocious but got a little distracted in her first start, which is why we’re adding the blinkers for her too.” Kiss, a speedy daughter of Army Mule who has worked extremely well for her debut, is among the other fillies in the race who demand respect along with the turf-bred first-time starter The Myth, for trainer Mark Casse. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.