Rises the Phoenix by a nose

Rises the Phoenix ($18.60) won a head bob at the wire with Brocco Valley to win the first stakes of his career in the $50,000 Wadsworth Memorial Handicap at Finger Lakes.

A 7-year-old gelding trained by Daniel Conway and ridden by Nazario Alvarado, Rises the Phoenix prevailed by a nose following a stretch-long duel with pacesetter Brocco Valley. The final time for 1 1/8 miles over a track labeled good was 1:50.86.

Tommasi finished third, 1 1/4 lengths behind the front pair, in a field of seven older horses.

In the only other two stakes appearances in his 35-race career, Rises the Phoenix was a distant fifth behind the Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide in last year's Wadsworth and second against New York-breds in the Genesee Valley Breeders' Handicap last September.

Johnie Bye Night, winner of the 2006 Wadsworth and second in the race last year, was scratched.