Set Piece closes from last to win BWI Turf Cup

Favored Set Piece rallied from last to capture Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Baltimore/Washington International Turf Cup for 3-year-olds and up at a mile on the turf.

A 6-year-old gelding bred in England by his owner, Juddmonte Farms, Set Piece settled in last under jockey Sheldon Russell as longshots Bizzee Channel and English Tavern sparred through solid fractions of 24.05 seconds, 48.26, and 1:12.49.

Pao Alto, making his North American debut for trainer Graham Motion, made the first strong move at the leaders and bid to a short lead in upper stretch, but Set Piece was in full flight under a confident Russell.

Set Piece ran right by Pao Alto at the eighth pole and drove clear to win by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:35.70 over the firm turf course. He returned $5.20 to win.

Public Sector stayed on late to place third, a half-length behind Pao Alto. Sifting Sands, held up in behind horses in upper stretch, finished fourth. Then came English Tavern and Bizzee Channel. Defending champion Field Pass scratched.

“He sort of broke last,” Russell said in a post-race interview broadcast by Pimlico. “At the half-mile pole, he was traveling really, really nicely. He was in tip-top shape today, and I was just a passenger.”

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A son of Dansili out of the Kingmambo mare Portodora, Set Piece prevailed for the 11th time in 23 starts for career earnings of $873,323.

Trained by Brad Cox, Set Piece grabbed the Grade 2 Wise Dan last year at Churchill Downs, then placed second in the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga before completing his campaign with a troubled seventh-place effort in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile.

Set Piece also finished seventh in his 2022 debut, the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile before posting a rallying win in Pimlico’s Grade 2 Dinner Party Stakes on Preakness Saturday. He raced in traffic when fifth in the Grade 3 Forbidden Apple on July 15 at Saratoga.

Cox told Daily Racing Form earlier this week that Set Piece didn’t care for the Churchill turf course when fourth as the favorite in the Grade 1 Arlington Million on Aug. 13, his final race before the Baltimore/Washington International Turf Cup.