Wise Dan stakes Horse of the Year claim in record-setting Mile

Morton Fink's homebred Wise Dan stated his case for Horse of the Year by

blitzing an international field in Saturday's $1,818,000

Breeders'

Cup Mile, and put an exclamation point on his victory by speeding in a Santa

Anita course-record 1:31.78 on the firm turf. With jockey John Velazquez

orchestrating an ideal passage throughout, Wise Dan powered past longtime leader

Obviously in midstretch and drew off to extend his winning streak to four.

Animal Kingdom, last year's Kentucky Derby-winning champion, ran a huge, if

unlucky, race in his return from injury. Blocked on the inside for much of the

stretch, the Team Valor International homebred finally burst through to outkick

top European hope Excelebration and finished a barnstorming second. Obviously

held third from the staying-on Excelebration, rounding out an all-American-based

trifecta.

Wise Dan was handing trainer Charles Lopresti sweet compensation for his

heartbreak in last year's Mile, when his Turallure was denied on the head-bob by

64-1 longshot Court Vision at Churchill Downs. There was no such spine-tingling

suspense this time.

Although Obviously was still winging at the six-furlong mark in 1:08 4/5, the

ominous presence of Wise Dan was already hovering. The Europeans, however, were

not traveling conspicuously well. Excelebration was caught flat-footed as he

tried to keep up, and the filly Moonlight Cloud was out of contention.

Wise Dan joined Obviously down the stretch, and after the two matched

strides, the sheer power of Wise Dan tipped the scales. The striking chestnut

stamped his authority by 1 1/2 lengths, shaving .11 off the old course mark of

1:31.89 set by Atticus on March 1, 1997.

His final time also established a new stakes record for the Breeders' Cup

Mile, bettering Val Royal's 1:32.05 in the 2001 edition at Belmont Park.

"I just wanted to get him in the right position," Velazquez said. "When I was

able to do that, and you've got a horse as good as this, you can expect a result

like this."

"Really hasn't hit me yet," Lopresti said of the sensational time, "but it's

an incredible accomplishment -- but it's really the horse. He's an incredible

horse.

"He has done things in the morning that you just don't believe. He's just a

dream come true, you work all your life to get a horse like this."

Joe Talamo, who guided Obviously to a third-place finish, believed that he

felt a modicum of early pressure.

"We figured to be on the lead and we had an easy lead," Talamo said. "I just

wish that outside horse (Suggestive Boy) hadn't been out there. He just put

pressure on us. I don't know if that cost us the race, but we did feel it. He

stayed on well."

Excelebration fell a nose short of getting to Obviously and settled for

fourth.

"It has been only 14 days since his last start," Excelebration's rider Joseph

O'Brien said, alluding to his victory in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II at

Ascot, "and this was his first time on a left-handed course. Things were

disorganized in the race, and he took a bit to catch up to it. I'm not sure you

saw his best race."

Next came the local trio of Mr. Commons, Jeranimo and Suggestive Boy, followed by Moonlight Cloud

and Willcox Inn.

Wise Dan, who provided payouts of $5.60, $3 and $2.80, improved his scorecard

to 20-13-1-0 and increased his earnings to $3,541,638. Ten of those wins have

now come in stakes.

Unraced as a juvenile, Wise Dan showed ability when winning four of six

starts at three. During that 2010 campaign, he captured his stakes debut in the

Grade 3 Phoenix Stakes at Keeneland and finished a creditable sixth, beaten just

2 1/2 lengths, in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Wise Dan proved a triple-surface threat in 2011, winning the Grade 2 Firecracker

Handicap in his turf debut, and adding the Presque Isle Mile on Tapeta, before

romping in the Grade 2 Fayette over Keeneland's Polytrack and adding the Clark

trophy.

His 2012 debut was scintillating -- a 10 1/2-length conquest of the Grade 3

Ben Ali, in a track-record time of 1:46.63 on the Keeneland Polytrack. Wise Dan

returned to Churchill for the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap on June 16, only

to lose by a head after a tough trip. That is his only loss in his past eight

races.