Keep the Peace must gun from rail

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Racing in a third-level allowance at Churchill Downs on April 25, Keep the Peace set a slow pace under Julien Leparoux and weakened to second, beaten at odds of 1-5.

Keep the Peace is part of a speed-laden field in the Grade 3, $100,000 Winning Colors Stakes at Churchill Downs on Monday, and one thing is certain - she won't be going slowly early. Dubai Majesty and Lady Chace, two of her six opponents, are similarly blessed with speed, and breaking from the rail, jockey Corey Lanerie will likely have to let Keep the Peace roll.

As counterintuitive as it may seem, a faster pace may actually prove a benefit. Keep the Peace is a free-running filly who can fight restraint when reserved early, said Eddie Kenneally, who trains the 4-year-old multiple-graded-placed daughter of Touch Gold.

To take away Keep the Peace's speed is to take away her strength, a point reflected in her past performances. In races at less than a mile, her slowest performances - in terms of Beyer Speed Figures - have come when she has set or pressed slow fractions.

Kenneally said her inside draw is not ideal, but she is "doing well, going in a great shape."

Lady Chace, coming off a third-place finish in the 5 1/2-furlong Giant's Causeway Stakes on turf at Keeneland, also has a reason to improve.

Trainer Steve Margolis said a myectomy - throat surgery designed to remedy breathing problems - was performed shortly after she ran in the April 18 Giant's Causeway. The surgery's effectiveness can be hit or miss, but if Lady Chace can get her air, she could prove dangerous at a price.

Although many of her recent starts have come on turf, her two highest Beyers have come on dirt. Miguel Mena rides.

Besides Dubai Majesty, who finished in a dead heat for third in the Grade 1 Humana Distaff on Derby Day, the field includes Temple Street, the Humana Distaff runner-up; Nadeshiko, who upset Keep the Peace when they met on April 25; stakes winner Tar Heel Mom, who is making her first start since January; and the late-rallying Tiz to Dream, third in the La Troienne at Churchill last spring.

* Leparoux won with 5 of 8 mounts on Friday's 11-race card to increase his lead in the rider standings. Among his five wins was a score aboard Complicity in the featured 10th race, a $52,720 allowance on turf.