Set Piece takes advantage of pace in Dinner Party Stakes
BALTIMORE – Set Piece found a softer race and a stronger pace very much to his liking Saturday at Pimlico, rallying from next-to-last under Florent Geroux to win the Grade 2, $250,000 Dinner Party Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths.
Tango Tango Tango outfinished pacesetting Atone to get second by a nose.
The win was the 10th from 20 career starts for Set Piece, but first since last June when he won the Grade 2 Wise Dan at Churchill Downs.
Set Piece had run in three consecutive Grade 1 stakes since, including a seventh-place finish in the Maker’s Mark Mile at Keeneland in April, a race that had no pace and in which Set Piece ran off with Geroux down the backside.
“That was a complete disaster,” Geroux said of the Maker’s Mark. “I was wide all the way and he was running off, things he doesn’t usually do, I’m usually far back and off the beat. I thought he ran extremely well losing ground and pulling . . . two things you try to avoid on the turf.”
Geroux and Set Piece avoided that scenario Saturday as Set Piece, as his custom, broke slow, but he was willing to settle well off the pace while Atone opened up a 3 1/2-length lead chased by English Bee and Tango Tango Tango. The half-mile went in 47.81 seconds while Set Piece was 11 lengths off the pace at that point while racing in the two path.
Around the far turn, Geroux gradually moved Set Piece to the outside but had to go five to six wide approaching the quarter pole. Geroux had plenty of horse, and though Atone was still looking strong on the front end, Set Piece lengthened his stride and wore down Atone for the victory.
“I could tell early on when my horse was off the bridle on the first turn and the race was spread out, I could figure out there was a good enough pace,” Geroux said. “From there, I just sat there, laid back, and when those horses starting coming back to me at the quarter pole I just tipped him out and let him do his thing the last quarter of a mile.”
Set Piece, a 6-year-old son of Dansili owned and bred by Juddmonte Farms and trained by Brad Cox, covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.64 and returned $6.10 as the 2-1 favorite. Set Piece was given a Beyer Speed Figure of 99.
Jockey Tyler Gaffalione on Tango Tango Tango was intent on being forward, but went to Plan B when Atone and English Bee went out to the front.
“On form, there didn’t look like there was much pace, so we wanted to get out there and give him the intention of going forward,” Gaffalione said. “He settled nicely when those two went ahead of him and kicked on, I followed [Atone] around the turn and popped out at top of the lane, and he gave me a good run. He just couldn’t hold off the winner.”
Atone finished third, a length ahead of Beacon Hill. English Bee, Nathan Detroit, and Novo Sol completed the order of finish.
While a repeat bid in the Grade 2, $350,000 Wise Dan on July 2 at Churchill Downs could be an option for Set Piece, Geroux believes the horse is capable of winning a Grade 1 at some point this year.
“I’m not saying he’s going to win the Breeders’ Cup Mile, but I could see him winning a race like the Woodbine Mile or Fourstardave in the future,” Geroux said.
Cox said while Set Piece is a gelding “our goal is definitely to try to get a Grade 1 win at some point in his career.”