FRANKLIN, Ky. – Tiztastic came to Kentucky Downs with not one thing, but two, in the mind of his trainer, Steve Asmussen: First, run in a $250,000 allowance race restricted to Keeneland sales graduates on Aug. 29, then run back in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile. A year ago here, Asmussen sent Aspenite out to finish second in the rich allowance before winning the Juvenile Mile. On Sunday, Tiztastic pulled the double, sweeping to the lead in midstretch and holding clear a game West Beach to capture the $998,250 Juvenile Mile. Irad Ortiz, putting on a clinic Sunday, won his fourth race from the first seven on the card. Asmussen won his second on the day and had six for the meet, tying him for leading trainer. Tiztastic debuted, decently, in a salty Saratoga maiden dirt sprint. Asmussen said Sunday he thinks the colt, by Tiz the Law out of Keesha, by Tapit, might eventually produce form on dirt as good as he has on turf. For now, he’s a grass horse, as Tiztastic, who is very much bred for the surface, showed from the time Asmussen worked him on the Saratoga grass course. His work partner there, Warlander, came here and won a Kentucky Downs maiden. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. Tiztastic raced over 6 1/2 furlongs in his first start of the meet and cruised to an easy win, showing he could handle a course that can be difficult for some horses. The Juvenile Mile was a go. “If they like it, they like it,” Asmussen said. Forged Steel, the 17-10 favorite Sunday off a blowout Gulfstream Park turf maiden win, did not like it. A potential pace player, he couldn’t make the front and wound up last of 12. Instead, it was I’m Otter Here who led Mika through a quarter-mile in 22.72 and a half in 44.72. Adding two to three seconds to half-mile splits in one-mile races here will get you to something that makes more sense within typical North American race standards: A good portion of the second quarter is run downhill. Still, that was a swift pace, and Ortiz had Tiztastic coasting along in ninth. From afar, it looked like Ortiz had a ton of horse. He did. “He was running so smooth, so nice. I felt like I had horse every step of the race,” Ortiz said. Tiztastic loomed a quarter-mile out and looked like he would romp. But West Beach, stalking from the inside, had an answer. West Beach had been entered in a maiden race here that he didn’t draw into, but trainer Brendan Walsh said he always intended to run in the Juvenile Mile. West Beach and Frankie Dettori fought back, but Tiztastic was too much. “He’ll be an even better 3-year-old,” Walsh said. “He’s a good horse. It’s hard to believe he’s still a maiden after three starts.” The winning margin was a neck, and the top two home were much the best. Ready for Peace was third, 3 3/4 lengths behind West Beach. Winning time over a fast, firm course was 1:34.53, and Tiztastic paid $11.26. Asmussen trains Tiztastic for Winchell Thoroughbreds, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith. Asmussen said Warlander, Tiztastic’s sometime workmate, is the horse likely to run next month in the Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland. Tiztastic just made two starts, good and better, in eight days. “I guarantee he will get the next week off,” Asmussen said. A well-earned respite for a promising 2-year-old. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.