Peace Achieved Wins Gainesway Farm Juvenile

FRANKLIN, KY – JSM Equine’s Peace Achieved took a big step forward off of his maiden-breaking effort to win Saturday’s $500,000 Gainesway Farm Juvenile Stakes at Kentucky Downs.

Breaking quickly from post 12 under Miguel Mena at 5/1 odds, Peace Achieved was able to clear enough rivals to vie safely for the early lead without being stuck out too wide. Shifting out a bit in the far turn, Peace Achieved was able to take over in the stretch and drew off to win by 2 1/2 lengths. The Mark Casse trainee completed the mile-long event over the firm turf course in 1:40.39.

“This horse, he carries himself like a good horse,” Mena said. “He has a great attitude, a lot of class. He doesn’t need a pony warming up. He shows what good horses do. He showed a lot of talent of breaking his maiden the other day when they put the blinkers on. He’s just been impressive since then. It was a beautiful trip. The horse has tactical speed and he put me in the race. He was going easy. I asked him a little bit at the 1/4 pole; the 1/8 pole, when I tapped him, he just drew away. He was the best horse.”

Fenwick Station made a bid in the stretch but flattened out and had to settle for second. Longclaw necked out Night Time for third, while Memorable was another neck back in fifth. The Gray Blur nosed out Automate for sixth, with Beyond Gone, Glass Eater, Nano, and Are You Kitten Me completing the order of finish. City Front, Doc Boy, Our Country, and Silver Prospector were scratched.

Peace Achieved’s win was his second straight after failing to break his maiden in two attempts at Churchill Downs. The 2-year-old son of Declaration of War now carries a record of 4-2-0-1 with $334,284 earned.

“We’ve always liked this horse,” said Casse assistant David Carroll, who also saddled Hanalei Moon before her victory in the One Dreamer Stakes. “He’s always trained beautifully. His first race, he ran very well. His second race, he acted very immature, just coltish, so we put the blinkers on and stretched him out, and he just ran a huge race. He’s improved from that race. Today’s race was beautiful. Miguel had him in position the whole way, always traveling very well. He’s a beautifully balanced horse. We think this is a horse that’s on the up and up.”

Peace Achieved returned $12 to win, $7.20 to place, and $5 to show. Fenwick Station brought back $14.60 to place and $8.40 to show, while Longclaw paid $5.40 to show.