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Set Piece Rallies From Back of The Pack To Win Wise Dan Stakes At Churchill Downs

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.

Find this race's chart here.

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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Set Piece, Somelikeithotbrown Set To Clash In Saturday’s Wise Dan

Juddmonte's multiple stakes winner Set Piece (GB) along with Skychai Racing and Sand Dollar Stable's two-time Grade 2 winner Somelikeithotbrown lead a field of 10 older horses that was entered in Saturday's $300,000 Wise Dan (G2) at Churchill Downs.

Named after multiple champion and two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan, the 32nd running of the 1 1/16-mile turf event goes as Race 10 of 12 with a post time of 5:26 p.m. (all times Eastern). First post is 12:45 p.m. The Wise Dan is one of seven stakes events on the fantastic closing day card at Churchill Downs. The program also features the $600,000 Stephen Foster (G2), $300,000 Fleur de Lis (G2), $150,000 Bashford Manor (G3), $150,000 Debutante (Listed), $150,000 Tepin and $150,000 War Chant.

Set Piece (GB), trained by Brad Cox, enters the Wise Dan on a two-race win streak. The 5-year-old gelded son of Dansili (GB) cruised to a dominating four-length victory in last month's $85,000 Douglas Park Overnight Stakes, the local prep for the Wise Dan. In his previous start, Set Piece (GB) defeated a field of eight in the one-mile $105,000 Opening Verse. Set Piece (GB) was formerly under the care of Hugo Palmer in Europe prior to Juddmonte shipping him to the U.S. in 2020. Overall, Set Piece (GB) has recorded eight wins from 15 starts with earnings of $257,044. Florent Geroux has the return call from the rail.

Two posts to the outside of Set Piece (GB) is seven-time winner Somelikeithotbrown. Trained by Mike Maker, Somelikeithotbrown won the $200,000 Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) at Turfway Park in 2019. More recently, the son of Big Brown recorded a one-length win in the $250,000 Dinner Party Stakes (G2) at Pimlico on the Preakness Stakes undercard. Jockey Jose Ortiz will have the call.

Other accomplished horses entered in the Wise Dan are Three Diamonds Farm's three-time Grade 3 winner Field Pass; and John Oxley and My Meadowview Farm's $175,000 Kennedy Road (G2) winner and $300,000 Maker's Mark Mile (G1) runner-up Ride a Comet.

The complete field for the Wise Dan from the rail out (with jockey and trainer):

Set Piece (GB) (Geroux, Cox)
Mutakatif (IRE) (Mitchell Murrill, Alberta Davies)
Somelikeithotbrown (Ortiz, Maker)
Super Sol (Gabriel Saez, Juan Cano)
Hierarchy (Adam Beschizza, Joe Sharp)
Kentucky Ghost (Rafael Bejarano, Vicki Oliver)
Ride a Comet (Tyler Gaffalione, Mark Casse)
Field Pass (Ricardo Santana Jr., Maker)
Spooky Channel (John Velazquez, Jason Barkley)
In Love (BRZ) (Joe Talamo, Paulo Lobo)

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Factor This Posts Game Front-Running Wise Dan Triumph

Gaining Ground Racing LLC's 5-year-old Factor This collected his third consecutive stakes win with a hard-fought, front-running triumph while holding off a fast-closing English Bee in Saturday's 31^strunning of the $200,000 Wise Dan (Grade II) at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky.

Ridden by Shaun Bridgmohan and trained by Brad Cox, Factor This ran 1 1/16 miles on firm turf in 1:41.15 to win by a neck as the even-money favorite. The $119,040 winner's share of the purse jumped his career record to 29-10-3-4—$844,070.

Pressured into the first turn, down the backstretch and leaving the final turn by English Bee's Calumet Farm stablemate Ritzy A.P., Factor This dictated the pace through splits of :23.93, :47.53 and 1:11.46. Bridgmohan dropped his hands at the top of the stretch and Factor This responded with determination as he inched clear and was able to hold off a rallying English Bee.

“We got a lot of pressure early and, once we sort of got into a rhythm, I tried to wait on him as much as possible,”Bridgmohan said. “I looked over and (Ritzy A.P.) was actually about to take the lead and then I had to go. He was still able to hold off the charge after getting that pressure early. He has a lot of fight and determination; he's just getting better.”

Factor This paid $4, $3.60 and $2.40. English Bee, with James Graham up, returned $8.60 and $5.40. Parlor was another three-quarters of a length back in third under Tyler Gaffalione and paid $3.80 to show.

Aquaphobia, Emmaus (IRE), March to the Arch, Casa Creed, Just Howard and Ritzy A.P. completed the order of finish. Hembree and Eons were scratched.

Factor This, a $62,500 claim in 2018, has won six races for Cox and Brian and Tom Cutshall, who race as Gaining Ground Racing LLC. Before the Wise Dan, Factor This won the $150,000 Fair Grounds (GIII) and $300,000 Muniz Memorial (GII) at Fair Grounds.

“That wasn't as easy as an even-money shot is supposed to win but he ran a huge effort,” Cox said. “He got pressure early and every step of the stretch he was able to fight off his rivals. It was an impressive effort on the front end. We'll get with the owners and determine a plan from here but it was very exciting to see how hard he ran today with that adversity.”

Factor This is a bay son of The Factor out of the Singspiel (IRE) mare Capricious Miss (GB). He was bred in Kentucky by Maccabee Farm.

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March To The Arch Out To Defend His Wise Dan Effort This Saturday At Churchill

Live Oak Plantation's 2019 Wise Dan (Grade II) winner March to the Arch will attempt a repeat victory in Saturday's 1 1/16-mile turf event but needs to rebound from a puzzling 10th-place effort in last month's Grade I Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita.

“I've only been around him for a little while but you'd have to assume he just didn't like it in California,” trainer Mark Casse's locally based assistant David Carroll said. “It was just such a puzzling effort where he didn't show much run at all. The thing of it is, his form in all of his previous races was very good. He's run some very nice efforts over the last year that if you draw a line through that race, he fits right in with this field. We know what he did in last year's race and hopefully he can run right back to that effort once again.”

Saturday's $200,000 Wise Dan presented by Ford (GII) is the featured event on the 11-race program and will go as Race 9 at 5:01 p.m. (all times Eastern) The race will share the stakes spotlight with the inaugural running of the $100,000 Audubon presented by TwinSpires.com at 1 1/8 miles on turf for 3-year-olds. The Audubon is carded as Race 6 at 3:25 p.m.

March to the Arch is the 5-1 third choice on the morning line behind multiple graded stakes winner Factor This (8-5) and stakes winner Parlor (9-2). March to the Arch is not a stranger to pulling off an upset; he won last year's Wise Dan at odds of 10-1 when he surged to the front past 2-1 favorite Admission Office. March to the Arch, a now 5-year-old son of Arch, finished a half-length in front of Parlor in last year's event.

Following his Wise Dan victory last June, March to the Arch was winless until he defeated Florida-breds on Jan. 18 in the $150,000 Sunshine Millions Turf at Gulfstream Park. Jockey Tyler Gaffalione was aboard March to the Arch for 10 of his 21-career starts but he opted to ride Parlor in Saturday's race leaving the six-time winner in the hands of Florent Geroux.

The complete field for the Wise Dan from the rail out (with jockey, trainer and morning line odds): Just Howard (Rafael Bejarano, Graham Motion, 10-1); English Bee (James Graham, Motion, 10-1); Factor This (Shaun Bridgmohan, Brad Cox, 8-5); Eons (Adam Beschizza, Arnaud Delacour, 50-1); Aquaphobia (Corey Lanerie, Mike Maker, 6-1); Ritzy A.P. (Declan Cannon, Jack Sisterson, 20-1); March to the Arch (Florent Geroux, Mark Casse, 5-1); Emmaus (IRE) (Brian Hernandez, Connor Murphy, 15-1); Casa Creed (Martin Garcia, Bill Mott, 15-1); Hembree (Gerardo Corrales, Maker, 12-1); and Parlor (Tyler Gaffalione, Maker, 9-2).

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