Interactif a BC standout after Bourbon

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Interactif won, and he is most definitely in.

But not only did Interactif win the on Sunday at Keeneland, guaranteeing himself a spot in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf through the Breeders' Cup Challenge Win and You're In program, he also looked much like the horse to beat in the third edition of the BC Juvenile Turf with an overpowering victory in the Bourbon.

Making just his second grass start, shipping for the first time, racing from far behind the early pace in the 1 1/16-mile Bourbon, and losing a huge amount of ground while wide on the far turn, Interactif still won comfortably. He was home by one length over longshot Codoy as the heavy favorite, paying just $4 To win. Family Foundation finished third.

This was the first time in four starts that Interactif, a Wertheimer and Frere homebred, had been favored. He won his debut, a five-furlong Monmouth Park dirt race, by a head at 4-1, then ran eighth at odds of 21-1 in the Sanford Stakes. And Interactif was a 15-1 shot when he scored by more than four lengths Sept. 4 at Saratoga in the With Anticipation Stakes, his grass debut.

The price in the With Anticipation would've been shorter had the betting public seen Interactif's first drill on Saratoga's grass training track.

"He went off in 38 [seconds for the first three furlongs], and I got him coming home in 21 and four [for the final quarter]," said winning trainer Todd Pletcher. "That was all I needed to see."

Over a turf course rated yielding and playing slow, Interactif and jockey Kent Desormeaux were 11th of 12 around the first turn and onto the backstretch in the Bourbon. That was the right place to be. Up front, Billions Boy and Activity Report alternated on the lead through fractions of 23.25 seconds for the opening quarter-mile, and 47.75 to the half - way too fast. Desormeaux started picking off horses with about six furlongs left to run, then got serious going into the far turn, letting Interactif run up toward the lead while some five paths wide. The pair hit the front well before the stretch call, and the race was over. Interactif, a son of Broken Vow, was timed in 1:45.24.

Pletcher said Interactif would return to New York from Kentucky on Monday before being aimed at the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf.