In a battle to the wire, East Avenue wore down defending race winner Bishops Bay for a nose victory in the Grade 3, $150,000 Salvator Mile on Saturday at Monmouth.  The Salvator was one of four stakes on Saturday’s Haskell Preview Day at Monmouth corresponding to, and offering berths into, stakes on the track’s marquee July 18 card next month. By virtue of their top-two finishes, East Avenue ($7.20), a Godolphin homebred trained by Brendan Walsh, and Bishops Bay will receive their entry and start fees to the Grade 3, $350,000 Monmouth Cup on the Haskell undercard next month.  :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. At the midway point of the Salvator Mile, favored Bishops Bay was on even terms with Point Dume and about to put that one away, but longshot Sea Streak loomed a threat and made him work around the turn. Meanwhile, East Avenue and Tyler Gaffalione rolled up three wide on the outside of those two and had dead aim coming in to the stretch, about a length behind at the quarter pole. East Avenue steadily ate in to Bishops Bay's margin, and the two flashed past the post together, stopping the clock for the mile in 1:35.99.  East Avenue showed his talent early, winning the Grade 1 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland before finishing ninth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile with a stumbling start. In his second start as a 3-year-old, he finished second to Burnham Square in the Grade 1 Blue Grass before checking in eighth in the Kentucky Derby. East Avenue bounced right back to win the Grade 3 Matt Winn, and appeared to be on his way to a good second half of the season, but then finished fifth in the Grade 3 West Virginia Derby as the favorite.  Coming back this year, East Avenue has rounded back in to form. In his first start in nearly eight months, he was second, beaten three-quarters of a length, in the Grade 3 Oaklawn Mile. He was then fourth after being bumped at the break of the Grade 2 Alysheba last month at Churchill Downs, but fired a good shot in his third outing off the layoff.  “It appears he might be back by the looks of that race," Walsh said. "He showed great heart today. He battled hard. He’s a very solid horse. I think this year he has finally been piecing it all together. I don’t think he learned a lot as a young horse because he was so good right away. He’s had some issues as well. I think he is finally piecing things together. He has shown a lot of fight this year, which is great to see."  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.