LEXINGTON, Ky. – Pretty much all the prep races for the 2022 Breeders’ Cup are in the books by now, although Wesley Ward may have some unfinished business Sunday. “Time to get serious,” said a smiling Ward. Twilight Gleaming, one of the six Breeders’ Cup winners Ward has trained in his stellar career, will indeed need to do some of her finest work to emerge on top Sunday in the Grade 3, $300,000 Franklin Stakes on the Keeneland turf. The 3-year-old Irish-bred will face some of the premier filly-mare turf sprinters in the Eastern half of the United States for the first time in the 5 1/2-furlong race. With a peak Beyer Speed Figure of 89, Twilight Gleaming will be meeting older horses who not only have earned 90-plus Beyers with regularity, but some of whom are exceptionally quick, including Creative Credit and Elle Z. Furthermore, she’ll have multiple stakes winners such as Caravel, Change of Control, and Brooke Marie in opposition. “It’ll be a good test for her, for sure,” Ward said. “But I like the way she’s training and I think she’ll be up to it.” The Franklin could prove a springboard to the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint to those whose connections would want to try males in that Nov. 5 race at Keeneland, given there is not a matching spot for females within an already expanded BC program. Last year at 2, Twilight Gleaming whipped males leading gate to wire in the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint going five furlongs at Del Mar, and Ward has seldom hesitated to run a filly versus boys given a set of circumstances he feels is proper. “We’ll just have to see what happens Sunday before we make any decisions about moving ahead,” he said. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match and FREE Formulator PPs! Join DRF Bets. Twilight Gleaming, owned by the Stonestreet Stables of Barbara Banke, will have John Velazquez aboard breaking from post 6 in the Franklin, the seventh of nine races. In all, 15 were entered but only as many as 12 can start. Twilight Gleaming, first or second in all eight starts, gave Ward his third straight victory in the BC Juvenile Turf Sprint, following Golden Pal (2020) and Four Wheel Drive (2019). The bay daughter of National Defense won her last two starts, the Mamzelle against 3-year-old fillies in May at Churchill Downs and the Daisycutter versus older at Del Mar in late July. Caravel (post 2, Tyler Gaffalione) has won 3 of 6 starts, all stakes, since Brad Cox assumed the training of the 5-year-old gray mare. Both she and Change of Control (post 10, Colby Hernandez), an earner of more than $950,000 for Michelle Lovell, have proven themselves sufficiently speedy and very handy, and a pace meltdown forced by Creative Credit and Elle Z might be more to their benefit than Twilight Gleaming. :: Bet Keeneland with confidence! Get DRF PPs, Picks, Betting Strategies, and more. The 26th Franklin anchors a card that also includes two rich allowances (races 5 and 8) and a $100,000 maiden special (race 6) featuring the debut of Julia Shining, a Stonestreet homebred trained by Todd Pletcher. Julia Shining is a 2-year-old filly by Curlin out of Dreaming of Julia, making her a full sister to Malathaat, an easy winner of the Grade 1 Spinster here last Sunday. All listed purses included bonuses restricted to registered Kentucky-breds. Here in April, Ward sent out Campanelle to dominate the spring-meet counterpart to the Franklin, the Giant’s Causeway. Campanelle, a 4-year-old filly also owned by Stonestreet, is a top prospect for the upcoming BC Turf Sprint, a race for which Ward also has Bound for Nowhere and the early favorite, Golden Pal. First post Sunday is 1 p.m. Eastern, with the feature set for 4:12. A 30 percent rain chance and highs in the mid-60s are in the local forecast. After Sunday, Keeneland goes dark for two days before the 17-day fall meet hits its midpoint with an eight-race card Wednesday. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.