Waiting until well inside the eighth pole for a cue from jockey Irad Ortiz
Jr., 16-1 chance Peace Preserver darted through a small opening between rivals
and outfinished fellow closer Hungry Island to take Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000
Noble
Damsel at Belmont Park by three parts of a length.
The longest shot in a field of six fillies and mares, Peace Preserver trailed
for the better part of seven furlongs in the one-mile, Widener turf test, but
luckily avoided traffic when squeezing through the field and outkicking Hungry
Island, who took virtually the same route. After completing the trip in 1:33
4/5, her backers were rewarded with a $34.20 mutuel.
“It was a perfect trip,” Ortiz said. “I just followed the instructions like
the assistant trainer (Mike McCarthy) told me. He told me to sit and make one
run. I sat and waited until the quarter pole but I couldn’t go out, so I stayed
inside where I wouldn’t lose too much ground. When room opened up, she gave me
everything she had. When I asked her, she picked it up pretty good.”
In a tightly-bunched field that was separated by 3 1/4 lengths at the finish,
Hungry Island bested 4-5 favorite Better Lucky for second by three parts of a
length. Better Lucky had a neck on Assateague, the leader through splits of :23,
:46 4/5 and 1:10 1/5, who was then followed by 2012 Noble Damsel winner Naples
Bay and Laugh Out Loud.
Peace Preserver, bred in Kentucky by Cherry Valley Farm was a $75,000 OBS
two-year-old in training purchase. She races for owner Alto Racing and is
trained by Todd Pletcher.
Originally trained by John Parisella and a $65,000 maiden claiming graduate,
Peace Preserver joined the Pletcher barn following a starter allowance/optional
claiming victory in the spring of 2012. Runner-up in her first two stakes tries
for the stable, she broke through last Columbus Day with a 6 1/2-length win in
the $150,000 Pebbles over the Noble Damsel course and distance. She concluded
her sophomore campaign with a disappointing eighth in the Mrs. Revere at
Churchill Downs.
Third against allowance foes at Gulfstream and runner-up in the May 4 Beaugay
at Belmont to kick off her 2013 campaign, Peace Preserver preceded this win with
a third in the off-the-turf, $100,000 Mariensky at Belmont and a last-place
effort in a Saratoga allowance, where she endured a wide trip throughout. This
first graded score pushed her career earnings to $382,166 from a line of
16-5-3-3.
“She’d had a little bit of rough luck this summer,” assistant trainer Mike
McCarthy said. “She obviously has an affinity for this place, and it was nice to
see her put it all together.”
Produced by the Forty Niner mare Preserver, Peace Preserver is the older
half-sister to current Grade 3 winner Jack Milton and the stakes-placed Dig
Alittle Deeper, who finished fourth in the $205,544 Summer at Woodbine on
Saturday. She’s also kin to the Grade 3-placed Stake and My Rachel.
This female family has also yielded juvenile colt champion War Pass, Grade 1
winners Oath and Karlovy Vary, multiple Grade 2 victor Great Intentions, and
Grade 3 scorers Honest Man and Country Light. All of them trace back to Bayou,
the champion three-year-old filly of 1957.
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