Declarationofpeace scores upset in Juvenile Turf Sprint

DEL MAR, Calif. – Even the Aidan O’Brien second-string juveniles are winning at Del Mar this weekend.

A day after Mendelssohn won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, the durable colt Declarationofpeace rallied in the final furlong to record an upset win in Saturday’s $202,415 Qatar Juvenile Turf Sprint at five furlongs.

Ridden by Ryan Moore, Declarationofpeace ($30.40) caught stretch leader Sound And Silence to win by a head in 57.23 seconds.

“Speed is his thing,” O’Brien said.

Declarationofpeace closed from last in a field of 12 to reach the front in the final strides.

“He was having fun out there today,” Moore said. “When he made the turn, he got going, and we got there.”

Sound And Silence, the 3-1 favorite, finished a half-length in front of Out of The Flames, who broke slowly. Corinthia Knight finished fourth, followed by March X Press, Elizabeth Darcy, Treasuring, Fairyland, El Dulce, Majestic Dunhill, Count Alexander, and McErin.

Count Alexander, a 9-2 shot, had an unlucky trip, racing in traffic in early stretch.

Declarationofpeace, a Kentucky-bred by War Front, was bought for $2.6 million as a weanling at the 2015 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. Declarationofpeace has won 3 of 8 starts and earned $151,161. Declarationofpeace was beaten in four stakes in England and Ireland, including a last-place finish of 22 in the Windsor Castle Stakes as the 8-5 favorite at Royal Ascot in June and a third in the minor Mercury Stakes on the all-weather surface at Dundalk in Ireland on Oct. 20.

The Juvenile Turf Sprint was Declarationofpeace’s fourth start in the last five weeks.