Victory Achieved makes light work of salty field in Nearctic breakthrough

03/10/2026

TORONTO, October 3, 2026 - Victory Achieved accomplished a pair of milestones in a flawless performance, to win the Grade 2 Nearctic Stakes ($250,000), presented by the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance Saturday at Woodbine.

Ridden for the first time by Rafael Hernandez, the Mark Casse-trained five-year-old bay gelding settled kindly in fourth on the rail, as stablemate Essex Serpent led the field of seven through an opening two panel clocking of :22.48.

Western Whirl was a length behind in second. 2023 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner Nobals raced outside in third. Isivunguvungu (SAF) chased in 5th with Works for Me on the rail in sixth. Gas Me Up, Canada's reigning champion male turf horse and race favourite tracked closely in seventh.

Approaching the midway point in the six-furlong E.P. Taylor Turf Course sprint for three-year-olds and up, Hernandez angled the Florida-bred Victory Achieved out for clear running and the son of Street Sense responded with vigor.

Through a half mile in :45.49, over a course listed 'good,' Hernandez had Victory Achieved in full flight in the 5 path and the tandem kicked on impressively to score by 3 lengths in a final time of 1:09.30.

"He showed a lot of speed, but I just played it by ear, see how everybody break," said Hernandez. "Davey (Assistant trainer David Adams) said Raffy just let him break, be close from the speed and 'do your thing,' that's what we did."

Unraced at two, Victory Achieved broke his maiden in his second career start, when debuting at Woodbine. Out of the War Front mare Lady of Victory, Victory Achieved completed a natural local hat trick winning a pair of main track allowance sprints. As a 4-year-old, the Florida-bred finished second in the Grade 3 Bold Venture.

"This is a horse we had high hopes on," said Casse in a pre-race interview, while mentioning that a win by either of his entrants might result in trip to the Breeders Cup later this month at Keeneland.

"He's kind of had an up and down career. He's very good right now. We've been targeting this race (Nearctic) for a long time with him," said Casse of Victory Achieved who arrived back at Woodbine off a pair of runner up finishes in stakes’ south of the border.

Bred in Florida by Live Oak Stud and owned by Live Oak Plantation, Victory Achieved did the double, notching his first career turf and graded stakes win respectively. With the Nearctic win, Victory Achieved improved to 5-4-1 from 14 career starts.

Victory Achieved opened at 5-2 on the morning line, floated up to 5-1 and returned $13.20 for the win. Nobals was second. New York-bred Works for Me was third and pacesetter Essex Serpent finished fourth. Favoured Gas Me Up was 5th.

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Phil McSween, for Woodbine