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Stonestreet Stables' Kensei returned to his winning ways in style on Saturday when recording a three-quarter length victory in the $200,000 Grade 3 Salvator Mile at Monmouth Park. Last seen in the winner's circle following the 2009 Grade 2 Jim Dandy, the Steve Asmussen pupil withstood the late rally of Soaring Empire on the outside while easily holding pacesetter Rule down on the rail. Kensei finished up the fast-track affair in 1:36 4/5 under jockey Edgar Prado.

Rule was quickest from the gate and proceeded to set splits of :23 4/5 and :47 3/5 while closely tracked by Morning Line to his outside. Kensei had taken up a stalking position in the three path just off the flank of Morning Line, and even fell back a bit on the backstretch to run in tandem with Motovato and Friesan Fire.

Prado allowed his mount that small breather before once again sending him up on the outside to challenge rounding the turn. Motovato tried to slip through on the rail, but Rule tightened up on the bend, closing the gap and forcing the bay to take up slightly. Kensei, meanwhile, had no trouble navigating the turn on the outside and entered the lane with a slight head advantage over Rule. The five-year-old began pulling away near the wire, and had just enough momentum to hold the late run of Soaring Empire closing from the back of the pack.

Sent off the 15-1 second longest shot in the seven-horse field, Kensei paid $32.40, $11.80 and $5.20 for this victory. Soaring Empire took second by a neck over Rule, who in turn had three lengths to spare on Motovato. It was another neck back to Morning Line, with Cactus Charlie and Friesan Fire completing the order under the wire.

Kensei racked up a 4-1-2 mark from nine starts in his first two seasons of racing, taking the Grade 2 Dwyer and Jim Dandy in back-to-back fashion while placing in the Grade 2 Jerome, Grade 2 Woody Stephens and Grade 3 Derby Trial. He continued in that same manner to begin his four-year-old last year, running second in the Duncan F. Kenner Stakes, but lost a step during the spring when unable to finish in the money.

The bay was given the summer off and returned on November 14 with a well-beaten seventh against optional claiming rivals at Churchill Downs. He once again went to the sidelines over the winter, not reappearing until making his five-year-old bow a nice second in the Marcy 6 Santana Mile. Kensei followed that with a fourth in the Grade 1 Carter before running off-the-board for the second straight year in the Grade 1 Metropolitan prior to Saturday's race. With this confidence-building win his scorecard now reads 17-5-3-2, $731,364.

Bred in Kentucky by Gulf Coast Farms, Kensei was purchased by his current connections as a $300,000 Barretts May two-year-old. He is out of the winning Belong to Me mare Private Feeling, making him a half-brother to dual champion and classic winner Lookin at Lucky. Private Feeling has since produced the unraced juvenile colt Nationalism, an unnamed yearling colt by Mr. Greeley and a 2011 full sister to Lookin at Lucky.

Private Feeling is herself a half-sister to Grade 3 winner Grand Charmer, who is the granddam of multiple Grade 1-scoring champion Wait a While. This is the same female family as 1987 Group 1 Irish Derby hero Sir Harry Lewis, who finished third in that same year's Grade 1 Rothmans International at Woodbine.

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