Keeneland-based trainer Wesley Ward will bid for his fourth consecutive training title of the annual spring meet when the season opens Friday. Ward won the title last year with 20 wins, including four stakes, and is optimistic about how his stable will perform this April at the Lexington track.
“I'm feeling great,” Ward said. “We've got a lot of horses in various different categories – a lot of nice stakes horses. The 2-year-olds are always fun to see which ones blossom. This is the highlight of opening up my year to see how we're going to progress. We're really looking forward to it – as is everyone who comes to Keeneland in the spring. It's a great place to be – the only place to be.”
On Saturday, Ward worked a number of horses in preparation for opening weekend.
On the fast main track, Gayla Rankin's Central Bank Ashland (G1) hopeful, Happy Soul, covered 6 furlongs in 1:11.20. The filly has won her past three races, including the Feb. 19 Dixie Belle at Oaklawn Park. She won the 6-furlong stakes by 3 lengths as the even-money favorite.
Ward said Happy Soul will be ridden in the Ashland by John Velazquez, who has been aboard the filly in all four of her races. Velazquez won the 2001 Ashland with Fleet Renee.
Working five furlongs on the turf course labeled good were Ward's two 2021 Breeders' Cup winners – Mrs. John Magnier, Michael B. Tabor, Derrick Smith and Westerberg's Golden Pal and Stonestreet Stables' Twilight Gleaming – who are preparing for their 2021 debuts on opening weekend.
Golden Pal (1:01.20), who won the 2020 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint (G2) and 2021 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint (G1), is to start Saturday in the $350,000 Shakertown (G2).
Twilight Gleaming (1:01.40), who took last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, is to run Sunday in the listed $200,000 Palisades.
Another notable Ward turf worker was Stonestreet's Campanelle, a two-time group winner at Royal Ascot in England (five furlongs in 1:02.40). Ward said she would make her 2022 debut April 16 in the listed $200,000 Giant's Causeway.
Campanelle won the 2020 Queen Mary (G2) and 2021 Commonwealth Cup (G1) at Royal Ascot.
“We're focused on sending her back to Ascot – three in a row,” Ward said.
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