Set Piece finishes with a flourish to win Wise Dan
Juddmonte’s Set Piece (GB) weaved through traffic in deep stretch to collar pace-setting Somelikeithotbrown to win Saturday’s 32nd running of the Grade 2, $300,000 Wise Dan at Churchill Downs.
Trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Florent Geroux, Set Piece (GB) completed 1 1/16 miles over the firm Matt Winn Turf Course in 1:40.50, just .24 seconds off the stakes record set by Kasaqui (ARG) in 2017.
“He’s a very nice horse,” Geroux said. “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.”
Somelikeithotbrown broke sharply from the gate under Jose Ortiz and set early fractions of :24.18 and :47.94. While Somelikeithotbrown had a solo lead, Set Piece (GB) was in ninth early. Following three-quarters of a mile in 1:11.70, Set Piece began to make his charge at Somelikeithotbrown. At the head of the lane, Set Piece (GB) continued to close significant ground but was still about seven lengths behind Somelikeithotbrown. Inside the eighth-pole Geroux navigated Set Piece (GB) inside tiring Field Pass to rally past Somelikeithotbrown by a half-length.
Set Piece (GB) returned $5.40, $3.40 and $2.40 for his Wise Dan victory. Somelikeithotbrown paid $3.80 and $2.80. Ride a Comet, under jockey Tyler Gaffalione finished third and paid $3.
Set Piece (GB) is a 5-year-old gelded son of Dansili (GB) out of the Kingmambo mare Portodora. He was bred in Great Britain by Juddmonte.
Set Piece earned $176,700 for his Wise Dan victory, which improved his career earnings to $433,744. He sports a stout record of 16-9-1-1 with four victories over the Matt Winn Turf Course.
“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.”
Field Pass, Kentucky Ghost, Spooky Channel, Mutakatif (IRE), In Love (BRZ), Hierarchy and Super Sol completed the order of finish.