Wise Dan picks up right where he left off in Maker’s 46 Mile

Wise Dan picks up right where he left off in Maker’s 46
Mile

Wise Dan has now won five straight, and eight of his last nine (Keeneland/Coady Photography) Morton Fink’s homebred Wise Dan, who clinched 2012 Horse of the Year honors with a four-race winning streak, opened his 2013 campaign in the same style in Friday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Maker’s 46 Mile at Keeneland. With Jose Lezcano subbing for injured rider John Velazquez, the 2-5 favorite swept to the front at the top of the stretch and repelled the rally of defending champion Data Link. Wise Dan was last seen landing the November 3 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita, where he broke both the course and stakes record in a dazzling 1:31.78. Trainer Charles LoPresti had cautioned that last year’s champion turf and older male wasn’t 100 percent fit for this seasonal reappearance, but he was plenty sharp enough to extend his skein to five in a row. “I was very concerned,” LoPresti said afterward. “People asked me earlier, ‘What horse do you fear?’ I said, ‘I fear the layoff the most.’ I didn’t crank him as tight as he needed to be for this race. “Turning for home, I hoped he was going to win, but I knew he might get a little tired. He kicked in on heart alone. “It just shows that he has a desire to win and he’s a really good horse,” LoPresti summed up. Fittingly, the trophy was presented by another champion Dan — basketball Hall of Famer Dan Issel, who still owns the record for most career points scored on the University of Kentucky men’s team.

Tactically drawn on the outside in the short field of five, Wise Dan was a
couple of lengths back in third as Silentio carved out an opening quarter in :24
3/5 on the firm turf. But on the backstretch, the Horse of the Year showed his
eagerness to be back in action, and dragged Lezcano into a close, pace-prompting
third. Mr. Commons and Data Link remained within striking distance in the
compact group.

Silentio continued to post fractions of :48 4/5 and 1:13, with Skyring lapped
on his flank, but Wise Dan was now also alongside. When the three-time Eclipse
Award winner put both pace rivals away entering the stretch, Data Link was on
the move, and the 2012 Maker’s 46 hero was not ready to surrender his crown
tamely.

Although Data Link rallied to within a half-length of Wise Dan in midstretch,
he could not outkick the Horse of the Year, who had still more up his sleeve in
the final furlong. Wise Dan pulled away to a one-length decision in a final time
of 1:36 1/5, and in the process, made Keeneland history. He has now won a total
of five graded stakes at Keeneland, a record at the Lexington, Kentucky, track.

“He was very fresh,” Lezcano said. “He wanted to go on, but I wanted to slow
him down. I knew that (Data Link) would be coming at the end. I waited as long
as I could, but he’s a champion, you know.”

LoPresti noted that Wise Dan wasn’t as rank as he has sometimes been in the
past.

“Really I was surprised into the first turn (that) he was pretty relaxed
where he was,” the trainer said. “Then down the backside when he saw daylight he
wanted to grab the bit a little bit. But I’ve seen him tougher than that.”

Defending champion Data Link (left) accosted Wise Dan, but had to surrender his crown (Keeneland/Coady Photography) Data Link’s connections tipped their caps to the winner. “He ran fine,” trainer Shug McGaughey said of the runner-up. “He laid in behind that horse (Wise Dan). He settled in good and made a good run at him. He just couldn’t get by. He was second best.” “That’s his style; he’s a come-from-behind horse,” jockey Javier Castellano said of Data Link. “It was a decent pace. My target was the winner. The better horse won the race. I was second best today. I am not disappointed at all in my horse and what he did today.” Another two lengths back in third came Mr. Commons. Skyring checked in fourth, and Silentio brought up the rear. Wise Dan, who returned $2.80, $2.10 and $2.10, now sports a mark of 21-14-1-0, $3,727,638. 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 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 Firecracker
Handicap in his turf debut, and adding the Presque Isle Mile on Tapeta, before
romping in the Fayette over Keeneland’s Polytrack and the Clark Handicap on the
Churchill Downs dirt.

The chestnut gelding kicked off his 2012 season at
Keeneland with a scintillating, 10 1/2-length conquest of the Ben Ali, in a
track-record time of 1:46.63 on the Polytrack. Wise Dan returned to Churchill
for the June 16 Stephen Foster Handicap, only to lose by a head after a tough
trip. That is his only loss in his past nine races.

Wise Dan reverted to turf for the Fourstardave Handicap August 11 at
Saratoga, where he posted a five-length demolition job, and came back to
dominate the September 16 Woodbine Mile by 3 1/4 lengths. Wise Dan used the
Shadwell Turf Mile on October 6 at Keeneland as a virtual paid workout, with a 2
1/4-length jaunt that set him up perfectly for the Breeders’ Cup.

By taking home Eclipse Awards as Horse of the Year, champion older male and
champion turf male, Wise Dan joined the legendary John Henry as the only two to
sweep those three honors in the Eclipse era. Now six years old, Wise Dan figures
to have much more time to polish his resume.

“I’ll talk to (owner-breeder Fink),” LoPresti said regarding future targets.
“He’s nominated to that race on Derby Day, mile and an eighth on grass (the
Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs). I don’t think that we’ll run
him there.

“Maybe the Stephen Foster (Handicap on June 15 at Churchill) next time —
just like we did last year. Maybe we’ll win it this year.”

The Kentucky-bred is by Wiseman’s Ferry and out of the winning Wolf Power
mare Lisa Danielle. He is a half-brother to multiple Grade 2 victor Successful
Dan, who set a new Churchill track record when taking the Alysheba last May.
Another half-sibling, stakes winner Our Royal Dancer, is herself the dam of
Argentinean Group 2-placed Bailando Voy.

Lisa Danielle is in turn a half-sister to Grade 1-placed Carsona, who has
produced Grade 2 victor Siphon City. This is the family of German Group
1-winning highweight Scalo, and further back, French champion, classic winner
and noted sire *Val de Loir as well as dual classic heroine and Irish champion *Valoris
II.

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