Wise Dan Completes Final Breeze for Woodbine
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Under cover of darkness in the early morning hours of Sept. 1 at Keeneland, two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan put in his final serious dirt move for the Sept. 13 Ricoh Woodbine Mile (Can-IT).
The 8-year-old Wiseman's Ferry gelding went five furlongs in 1:00 flat on trainer Charlie LoPresti's watch, and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.
The Woodbine Mile, a race Wise Dan won in 2012 and 2013, will be the first start for the six-time Eclipse Award winner since his victory last October in the Shadwell Turf Mile (gr. IT) at Keeneland, after which he was diagnosed with a non-displaced fracture at the bottom of the cannon bone of his right front fetlock.
"He worked very good this morning; went a minute, came home the last quarter in :22, and galloped out in :12," LoPresti reported. "That was just a maintenance work. We never asked him today."
Wise Dan has been breezing steadily and with increasing power since returning to the worktab July 17 at Keeneland, including a :59 bullet Aug. 25. His recovery has been supervised by Dr. Larry Bramlage of Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital near Lexington.
NOVAK: Wise Dan Goes Five Furlongs in :59 Flat
"Physically, he's sound, Doctor Bramlage is happy with him, and we know he's 100%," LoPresti said. "We're not going in there holding our breath (about the old injury). More than anything, we just hope he hasn't lost a step since he's another year older."
Wise Dan could have a minor blowout next week before shipping to Woodbine Sept. 11.
"I might let him run down the lane like a quarter, three-eighths," LoPresti said. "But all the real work is done and to be honest with you, I would rather just keep him happy now and try to get him pretty tuned up and fresh for that race."
The two-time Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) winner will van to Woodbine Sept. 11 and is expected to gallop on the turf course there the morning of Sept. 12 before racing Sept. 13. Exercise rider Jenn Patterson will fly to Canada to get aboard the chestnut runner, while Reeve McGaughey and LoPresti ride in the van along with him.
Should his return to the races go as planned, Wise Dan will target a run in the Breeders' Cup Mile Oct. 31 at Keeneland. Bred in Kentucky by owner Morton Fink out of the Wolf Power mare Lisa Danielle, he has 23 victories and two seconds from 31 starts, good for earnings of more than $7.5 million. He was named Horse of the Year in 2013 and 2012, and swept the titles for champion turf male and champion older male in both of those seasons as well. Last year he won the Maker's 46 Mile (gr. IT), the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (gr. IT), and the Bernard Baruch (gr. IIT) along with the Shadwell despite having his season interrupted by colic surgery.