First Mission enters Preakness picture with stakes debut win in Lexington

Apr 15, 2023 Vance Hanson/Brisnet.com

It was mission accomplished for First Mission in Saturday's $398,750
Lexington (G3) at
Keeneland, as the lightly-raced Godolphin homebred bulled his way past
long-time leader Arabian Lion in the stretch to win the 1 1/16-mile event for
three-year-olds in his stakes debut.

The Lexington brought to a close the 2023 Road to the
Kentucky Derby series,
though the only entrant among the 10 Lexington starters capable of ensuring his
participation in the May 6 Kentucky Derby (G1) was Disarm. A distant third in the Lexington, Disarm nonetheless earned an additional six qualifying points,
bringing his total to 46. That now puts him above the current cutoff line to
make the Derby field of 20, should his connections choose to proceed.

'It looks like he got enough points to go, so we have the option to go,'owner Ron Winchell said of Disarm. 'We'll see how he comes out of this race.
We've always thought a mile and a quarter would be fine for him.'

In contrast, the thrice-raced First Mission figures to be under consideration
for the May 20
Preakness
(G1) at Pimlico over 1 3/16 miles. A son of 2006 Kentucky Derby winner Street
Sense, First Mission is now 2-for-2 around two turns, preceding this victory
with a 6 3/4-length maiden win over the same distance at Fair Grounds. He was
narrowly defeated in his six-furlong debut by a stablemate in the Brad Cox barn,
Bishops Bay.

Under Luis Saez, First Mission covered one lap of the fast Keeneland strip in
1:43.74. He returned $6.38 as the 2-1 favorite. Arabian Lion, who led until the
final sixteenth, finished a half-length short in his first outing since early
February. Louisiana Derby (G2) runner-up Disarm was another 4 1/4 lengths behind
in third.

The order of finish was rounded out by Denington, Demolition Duke, Prairie
Hawk, Empirestrikesfast, Baseline Beater, Reinvest, and Curly Larray and Mo.

'This was a tough Lexington Stakes. Some nice horses in there. So we were
very hopeful and confident that if he showed the talent that we thought he had,
we had a big, big chance,' said Michael Banahan, Director of Bloodstock for
Godolphin USA. 'It's exceptionally nice to see that happen, and especially the
experience he needed to get, coming down in tight on the rail. For an
inexperienced horse, I think that will hold well for the future with us.

'I think we have a nice horse for down the road even if he doesn't make one of
the classics.'

Bred in Kentucky, First Mission was produced by Elude, a daughter of Medaglia
d'Oro and the Argentinean champion Forty Marchanta.