LEXINGTON, Ky. – There are few who look forward to the Keeneland spring meet more than trainer Wesley Ward, who is based here year-round and delights in unveiling his precocious 2-year-olds at his home meet. Ward won the first race of the meet Friday, with homebred Bledsoe taking the first 2-year-old race of the year. Later in the day, he made it a double on the opening card as Her World won a salty turf-sprint allowance. “Doesn’t get better than that at Keeneland,” Ward said. Ward also recorded a pair of third-place finishes in the first two days of the meet to go with his wins, including multiple graded stakes winner Arrest Me Red finishing a fast-closing third in the Grade 2 Shakertown, beaten less than a length by Caravel. Ward also owns horses and dabbles as a breeder, including with some of his own stallions. Bledsoe, who won his debut by 1 1/2 lengths under Joel Rosario, is a Ward homebred by the trainer’s stallion Iqbaal and out of the Grade 2-winning Congaree mare Shrinking Violet, who Ward raced in his colors. Ward purchased Iqbaal, a Grade 3-placed winner, out of the 2010 Keeneland November breeding stock sale and currently stands him at his farm adjacent to the Keeneland property. The stallion is the sire of 29 winners from just 36 career starters, including the stakes-placed Big City Dreamin and Johnny Cab, both bred by Ward. Bledsoe will be looking to join the stakes ranks soon enough, with Ward eyeing the Royal Ascot meeting in June in England, with a prep race on that course next month. :: Bet Keeneland with Confidence: Get DRF PPs, Picks, and Betting Strategies. Shop Now.  “I really think a lot of him,” Ward said. “I think the track might have been a little deep [on opening day], because he’s trained so well and the time was a little slow. We’ll have to evaluate it, but he’s a very, very talented horse . . . There’s a preview race over there [at Ascot] on May 3.” Ward will back in action Wednesday at Keeneland with another homebred, Hibernacle, in an $80,000 maiden-special for juveniles. Run at the traditional early spring 4 1/2-furlong distance, it is the second race on an eight-race card. Ward also has Mourne Mountains as the first also-eligible for owner Castleton Lyons in the overflow field. Hibernacle is by another Ward stallion, Hootenanny, and out of Searchingforahero, a New York-bred Officer mare who raced in Ward’s colors. Hootenanny won the 2014 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf for Ward after earlier winning the Windsor Castle Stakes at Royal Ascot. The stallion stood his first season for Buck Pond Farm in Kentucky in 2018 before coming back under Ward’s care. Hootenanny is the sire of 14 winners from 27 starters to date, including stakes winner Hicksy. Hibernacle, who will have Rosario in the irons Wednesday, has been breezing at Keeneland for his debut, most recently firing a bullet three furlongs last Thursday. Flirting Bridge tops allowance The nominal feature on Wednesday’s card is a $120,000 turf allowance for fillies and mares who have never won $18,000 twice, or who have never won three races. Flirting Bridge, the even-money favorite on the morning line for trainer Brendan Walsh, turned in a fine four-start campaign after coming to the United States from Europe last year. After winning a Churchill Downs allowance race, she placed in three consecutive graded stakes. That culminated with crossing the line third, beaten only a neck total, in the Grade 1 E.P. Taylor at Woodbine behind Rougir and Moira; she was promoted to second on the disqualification of Moira. The allowance, carded as the seventh race, also includes graded stakes-placed Take a Stand. :: Take your handicapping to the next level and play with FREE DRF Past Performances - Formulator or Classic.  The fifth race is the other pricey allowance on the card, a $110,000 turf event for older horses who have never won one-other-than, or who have never won two races. ◗ Preempt starts her career at her family’s favorite track in Wednesday’s third race, a $100,000 maiden special weight for fillies and mares sprinting on the main track. Preempt, by Arrogate, is out of Centre Court, a Grade 1 winner on the Keeneland turf who went on to produce local Grade 3 winner Navratilova. Both were homebreds for G. Watts Humphrey and trained by Rusty Arnold, the same connections as Preempt. The morning-line favorite is Amaretti, a Bernardini homebred for Godolphin and trainer Bill Mott. The filly is a half-sister to Keeneland Grade 2 winner Caramel Swirl and from the immediate family of champion Midshipman and Grade 1 winner Frosted. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.