Peace Achieved always prominent en route to Bourbon score

LEXINGTON, Kentucky – On Saturday, the jockey Miguel Mena endured a tough trip on First Premio, who finished a close and troubled fourth in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile. Sunday, Mena had no such issues in the Grade 3, $250,000 Bourbon Stakes, where Peace Achieved raced prominently from the start and finished just well enough to hold off Vitalogy, winning by a neck.

“Different kind of horse than yesterday,” Mena said. “This horse has the perfect tactical speed. He was cruising.”

Here, it was Vitalogy and jockey Javier Castellano that had little luck – not surprising, since Vitalogy broke from post 14. Castellano said the first thing he had to do was steer inside to avoid clipping the outrider standing along the outside rail, and from there, Castellano figured his best option, rather than risking serious first-turn ground loss, was to take back and hope. Vitalogy was 14th early, moved wide on the far turn while picking off rivals one by one, and really kicked into gear the final furlong to just miss.

“He gave me a good run. If we would have drawn a little better post, I think he would have won the race,” said Castellano.

Peace Achieved and Mena, in the end, needed no excuses, earning a fees-paid automatic starting berth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf through the Win and You’re In program. Mark Casse, who trains Peace Achieved for JSM Equine and won his first Bourbon, said Peace Achieved, all being well, was headed to Santa Anita.

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“I’ve been pretty impressed with him,” Casse said. “There was some give in the ground today, and I’m not sure he really liked that. I’m going to bet it’s going to be hard and fast [for the Breeders’ Cup], and the cutback to a mile there isn’t going to hurt us.”

Peace Achieved ($19.80) already has made five starts, all on turf, three in routes after two sprints. Casse added blinkers when Peace Achieved won an Ellis Park maiden race in July, and on Aug. 31 the colt, by Declaration of War out of the Fusaichi Pegasus mare Sense of Class, captured the $500,000 Juvenile Stakes at Kentucky Downs.

“It took a little while for him to get his feet underneath him today, but he got the job done,” said Mena.

Peace Achieved, sitting right outside Field Pass, raced on splits of 23.20 seconds, 47.60, 1:12.55, and 1:36.72 before running 1 1/16 miles on turf rated firm in 1:43.06.

Vitalogy, making his first start since being transferred from trainer Joseph O’Brien in Ireland to trainer Brendan Walsh in Kentucky, finished one length clear of Gear Jockey, a third-time-starting maiden who made a bold inside bid at the top of the stretch, brushed a couple times with Peace Achieved, and came home second by more than three lengths. Field Pass finished fourth followed by Fighting Seabee, Nettleton, Art Collector, Ete Indien, Kid Mercury, The Third Secret, Deviant, Doc Boy, Prince of Thieves, and Hurt So Good.