Set Piece Weaves Way to Wise Dan Victory
Image:
Description:
Photo: Coady Photography
Set Piece comes flying inside under Florent Geroux to win the Wise Dan Stakes at Churchill Downs
Far back early and with plenty of work left to do as the field turned for home, Set Piece weaved through traffic in deep stretch June 26 to collar pace-setting Somelikeithotbrown in the $300,000 Wise Dan Stakes (G2T) at Churchill Downs.
Juddmonte's homebred Dansili gelding sped 1 1/16 miles on firm turf in 1:40.50, just .24 seconds off the stakes record set by Kasaqui in 2017.
With Florent Geroux in the irons, Set Piece tracked ninth as Somelikeithotbrown went an opening quarter-mile in :24.18 with Field Pass in pursuit. The eventual winner was last of 10 as the half went in :47.94, but Geroux was confident despite having significant ground to make up from ninth after three-quarters in 1:11.70.
"He's a very nice horse," Geroux said of the 5-year-old Brad Cox trainee. "No matter where he comes from, inside or outside, he always seems to rally late. Turning for home, he gave me his best run. I'm very proud of this horse and I think this year is the best we've seen from him."
Set Piece began to make his charge as the field turned for home, but was still about seven lengths behind the leader at the head of the lane. Accelerating inside the eighth-pole, he navigated inside tiring Field Pass and dove back to the rail, rallying past Somelikeithotbrown by a half-length.
Set Piece returned $5.40 on a $2 win ticket. Ride a Comet was third behind Somelikeithotbrown by 1 1/2 lengths. Field Pass, Kentucky Ghost , Spooky Channel , Mutakatif , In Love , Hierarchy , and Super Sol completed the order of finish.
Bred in Great Britain out of the Kingmambo marePortodora , Set Piece started six times in Europe before he was imported to the United States and sent to Cox. This was his third straight victory and first graded score. He won the May 29 Douglas Park Overnight Stakes beneath the Twin Spires and also took the April 29 Opening Verse Overnight Stakes there.
"A lot of credit goes to the Juddmonte team, who kept this horse in training at 5 years old," Cox said. "Today he was able to get by a very good horse late. We're very proud of him. Flo gave a great ride and saved as much ground as possible."
Set Piece earned $176,700 for his Wise Dan victory, which improved his career earnings to $433,744. His record stands at 9-1-1 from 16 starts, with four of those victories earned at Churchill.
With six wins during the spring meet at Churchill Downs, which concluded Saturday, Juddmonte tied as leading owner with Three Diamonds Farm. Cox (18 wins) was leading trainer, and Tyler Gaffalione outpaced Ricardo Santana Jr. by a 47-31 margin in the rider standings. Geroux was third with 28 victories.