Wise Dan injury ‘part of the ups and downs of the game’

Wise Dan has a record seven graded stakes wins at Keeneland (Keeneland/Coady Photography) As the rain cascaded over Keeneland’s Barn 62 Tuesday morning, trainer Charlie LoPresti did not give in to the gloom that Mother Nature provided. “This is just part of the ups and downs of the game,” LoPresti said, a day after Breeders’ Cup officials were notified that two-time reigning Horse of the Year Wise Dan would not make the trip to Santa Anita for a shot at a third consecutive victory in the Breeders’ Cup Mile because of injury. “I’m fine, but I really feel bad for him,” LoPresti said. “He won’t get the chance to show his greatness again.”

X-rays showed a non-displaced “half-moon shaped” fracture of the bottom of
the cannon bone in the right front fetlock.

“The thing I want people to know is he is not limping around,” LoPresti said.
“He walks twice a day and stands on a vibration plate. He is just a tick off and
has a little filling in the joint.”

Wise Dan has compiled a record of 31-23-2-0 for earnings of $7,552,920. He
has 11 Grade 1 victories on his resume and has won 14 consecutive races on
grass, 10 of them in Grade 1 contests.

“We won’t decide if he will return to training until we see if he heals
perfectly because he has nothing left to prove,” owner Mort Fink said in his
statement to the Breeders’ Cup. “This is not a fracture that can be helped with
surgery; he has to heal it on his own.”

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