Weaving through horses like a car on a busy freeway, Florent Geroux moved Juddmonte's Set Piece from near the back of the ten-horse field to catch Somelikeithotbrown in the stretch and win the Grade 2 Wise Dan Stakes by a half-length at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. On a firm turf course, Set Piece overcame a disadvantageous start to find a hole on the hedge and pull out the win for trainer Brad Cox, who was leading all trainers going into the spring meet's final day.
At the start, Set Piece, breaking from post one, found himself squeezed back to next to last when several horses came over to find running positions for the first half of the race. Somelikeithotbrown, fresh off his winning performance in the Grade 2 Dinner Party Stakes on Pimlico's Preakness Stakes undercard, took the lead, with a half length back to Field Pass in second and then another two lengths back to Mutakatif in third.
Somelikeithotbrown maintained that lead through the stretch as Geroux moved Set Piece through the middle of the field, going first to the middle of the pack and then ducking to the inside of Mutakatif to take advantage of space on the hedge. Set Piece accelerated, closing the gap between him and Somelikeithotbrown. Jose Ortiz got Somelikeithotbrown to rally and try to hold off Set Piece, but the Juddmonte gelding was too much for the son of Big Brown. Set Piece passed Somelikeithotbrown in the race's final yards, hitting the wire a half-length in front. The time for the mile and a sixteenth G2 Wise Dan was 1:40.50.
Set Piece paid $5.40, $3.40, and $2.40. Somelikeithotbrown paid $3.80 and $2.80. Ride a Comet paid $3.00 to show.
Owned and bred by Juddmonte Farm, Set Piece was sired by Dansili out of Portodora, by King Mambo. His win in the G2 Wise Dan Stakes is his third win in five starts this year, with two other wins at Churchill Downs, the Douglas Park Overnight Stakes and the Opening Verse Overnight Stakes. Set Piece has nine wins in 16 lifetime starts for earnings of $300,996.
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