Set Piece makes Wise Dan third win in row
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In a little more than a week, Churchill Downs will begin the process of installing a new turf course. Set Piece, who has thrived on the current course, got one last hurrah on it with a bold move up the hedge for a half-length victory in the Grade 2, $300,000 Wise Dan Stakes on Saturday, closing day at this spring/summer meeting at which the gelding has won three straight races.
Set Piece ($5.40), a 5-year-old gelding, has now won five of his last seven outings, with all those victories coming on either the Tapeta main track at Turfway or the turf at Churchill Downs. He came into the Wise Dan off victories in the Opening Verse Overnight Stakes on April 29 and the Douglas Park Overnight Stakes on May 29.
"He's really moved forward this spring," trainer Brad Cox said. "Very proud of his effort."
Multiple graded stakes winner Somelikeithotbrown, who was coming off a course-record-setting performance at Pimlico in the Grade 2 Dinner Party Stakes, showed the way in the Wise Dan, running easily through honest opening splits of 47.97 seconds for the half and 1:11.70 for six furlongs while pursued by hard-held Field Pass. Turning for home, Somelikeithotbrown had more in the tank, as he shook off his shadow and opened his lead to two lengths.
Set Piece, last of 10 at the midway point of the race and with just under eight lengths to make up, threaded his way between horses to work his way up to third in upper stretch. With no room to persist, jockey Florent Geroux pointed the gelding to a seam on the hedge, and he exploded once set on that course.
"I was a little bit bottled up, but he's a very brave horse," Geroux said. "For a jockey, it doesn't get any better than that - when you turn for home and you can feel the power underneath you."
Somelikeithotbrown battled back, but Set Piece edged past the game leader in the final strides to his half-length margin, stopping the clock in 1:40.50 for the 1 1/16 miles on turf rated firm.
After Somelikeithotbrown in second, it was 1 1/2 lengths back to Ride a Comet, who edged Field Pass by a head for third.
"I'm proud of his effort today," jockey Jose Ortiz said of Somelikeithotbrown. "He tried hard until the very end and ran great."
The Wise Dan was one of three turf stakes on the closing-day card at Churchill Downs, accompanied by the $150,000 War Chant and the $150,000 Tepin, both for 3-year-olds.
Next ($6.60) cruised all the way on the lead under John Velazquez in the War Chant, setting a moderate pace and then kicking away in the stretch for a 3 3/4-length victory.
Royal Prince finished second, 2 3/4 lengths ahead of favored Helium, who was moving to turf after he was a player on the Kentucky Derby trail earlier in this campaign. The original field of eight horses for the War Chant - which kicked off the Derby City 6 sequence with a mandatory payout on closing day - scratched down to four starters, resulting in no show, trifecta, or superfecta wagering.
Next, trained by Wesley Ward, had previously finished 11th after pressing the pace in the Grade 2 American Turf on the Kentucky Derby undercard, his first start since last November.
The final leg of the Derby City 6 was the Tepin, with Navratilova setting the pace and turning back Tobys Heart in the final stages for a half-length victory in the event for fillies on the turf. This was the first career stakes win for the filly, who had Brian Hernandez Jr. in the irons for trainer Rusty Arnold; she was previously third in both the Limestone Turf Sprint at Keeneland and the Mamzelle Overnight Stakes at Churchill.
Navratilova ($20.80) capped a Derby City 6 sequence for which the pool grew to $1,142,825 after coming into the card with a $166,087 carryover. The wager returned $1,321.90.
The Tepin, the final race of this spring/summer meeting at Churchill Downs, was expected to be the final turf race in Louisville until April 2022. Horsemen are required to vacate the Churchill Downs stable area by July 4 to make way for the massive, $10 million project of ripping out the existing turf course, replacing drainage and irrigation systems, and laying down the new turf course, which will also be wider, accommodating maximum fields of 14 horses as opposed to the current 12. In order to allow the root system to take hold, Churchill does not plan to card turf races during its meets in September and November.