LEXINGTON, Ky. — Horse racing these days sometimes looks like a quilt of crises knit together with avoidable annoyances. The $1 million Turf Mile, featured race on a fall Saturday at grand old Keeneland, reminded you what this all is supposed to be about, as North America’s best grass horse, Up to the Mark, ran down the tough English invader Master of The Seas and won a tight photo by a nose, a truly thrilling finish.  It took a couple minutes for the photo sign to come and the winner’s number to come up, but if you had seen Jose Ortiz give a couple satisfied flicks of his crop toward the crowd just past the wire, and if you had seen the people who care for and ride Up to the Mark jumping for joy just after the finish, you had a good idea who’d won.  “I knew,” Ortiz said.  :: Get ready for Santa Anita racing with DRF PPs, Clocker Reports, Picks, and more. Shop Now.  Ortiz was on Up to the Mark for the first time only because his brother, Irad Ortiz, stayed in New York to ride Saturday’s card. What a mount to inherit. Up to the Mark started his career with one win in five dirt starts. Trainer Todd Pletcher, who won his second straight Turf Mile, switched Up to the Mark to turf over the winter in Florida and unearthed a new, better version of the beast. Up to the Mark now has won five of his six grass races, his lone defeat a third-place finish at Keeneland this spring when questionable tactics might have been employed in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile.   Up to the Mark had an undisclosed setback this summer that cost him training time and an August start in the Arlington Million at Colonial Downs and was racing for the first time since June 10. He was cutting back to one mile from the 1 1/4-mile Manhattan and facing a horse who had won the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile on Sept. 16 by almost four lengths. Yet he still captured his third straight Grade 1, the Manhattan coming after Up to the Mark won the Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.  “He’s now won consecutive Grade 1s at 1 1/8 miles, 1 1/4 miles, and a mile,” Pletcher said. “That’s rare.”  The Turf Mile unfolded in orderly fashion, four pairs of horses racing around the far turn and down the backstretch with Set Piece by himself at the rear. The race lacked real pace, a wind-aided half-mile split set by 45-1 shot Indestructible just 47.31. Outside Indestructible sat Annapolis, who won this race a year ago. Stitched and Atone ran together, behind them English Bee and Harlan Estate, the last pair the two principals, Master of The Seas and James Doyle on the inside, Up to the Mark alongside him.  “I was sitting next to James every step. It was either going to be him following me if I found a seam first, or me following him,” Ortiz said.  Doyle went first. When English Bee came off the fence past the three-eighths pole, midway around the far turn, Doyle shot Master of The Seas into the gap and at the quarter pole had gained on the leaders, while putting a couple lengths on Up to the Mark. Ortiz still had his mount a few paths from the rail and initially went for an outside run, but when Stitched and Atone blocked his path, he dove Up to the Mark back inside and followed Master of The Seas. Master of The Seas got through his hole cleanly, Up to the Mark squeezing between a fading Stitched and Master of the Seas’ hindquarters. Master of the Seas swooped past Annapolis but Up to the Mark had all the late momentum.  “He ran super,” Doyle said. “We had a good trip round, we got all the splits we wanted, and we just got beat by a very good horse. He’s the best turf horse in America. We were hoping he could be a little short today being off so long.”  Set Piece finished strongly from last at the stretch call but fell three lengths short of the top two while besting Annapolis for show. Another 2 1/4 lengths back came English Bee, followed by Harlan Estate, Stitched, Atone, and Indestructible.   Up to The Mark was timed in 1:34.18 over a firm course and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 100. The 4-year-old is by Not This Time out of Belle’s Finale, by Ghostzapper. He’s owned by St. Elias Stable and Repole Stable and was bred by Ramspring Farm. The Turf Mile is part of the Breeder’s Cup Challenge Series and Up to the Mark has automatic fees-paid entry into the Breeders’ Cup Mile, but this horse is so versatile he could also run in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.  Pletcher termed Up to the Mark his best turf horse since English Channel, who won the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Turf. The trainer won three Grade 1 races here in two days, Candied capturing the Alcibiades on Friday and Locked landing the Breeders’ Futurity the race before the Turf Mile. Back-to-back Grade 1 wins, the second with a layoff horse unraced in four months, and Pletcher, dry wit hiding beneath his ever-stoic exterior, never turned a hair. He was asked what would guide his choice of Breeders’ Cup races.  “Whichever one we think he has the best chance in,” he quipped, and walked away to saddle a maiden in the nightcap.  :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.