U.S. Horse of the Year Wise Dan rates as the 2-5 morning-line favorite to
make history in Sunday’s Grade 1
Woodbine Mile, where he will seek to become the first repeat winner, and
give trainer Charles LoPresti an unprecedented third straight victory in the C$1
million affair. Only five horses have signed on to challenge the defending
champion — English shipper Trade Storm, Za Approval, Dimension, Excaper and
Riding the River.
Wise Dan turned in a tour de force in the 2012 Woodbine Mile, romping by 3
1/4 lengths, and he hasn’t lost since. The Morton Fink homebred capped his
championship campaign in the Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland and the Breeders’
Cup Mile in record time at Santa Anita.
Unbeatable through four starts this campaign, Wise Dan reappeared in the
April 12 Maker’s 46 Mile back at Keeneland and then crushed the Woodford Reserve
Turf Classic on Kentucky Derby Day. Even imposts of 128 pounds in the June 29
Firecracker Handicap at Churchill and 129 pounds in the August 10 Fourstardave
couldn’t derail the chestnut gelding, who now brandishes an eight-race winning
streak.
Wise Dan will tote the top weight of 124 pounds on Sunday, including regular
rider John Velazquez. He is drawn in post 4 in this “Win & You’re In” event for
the Breeders’ Cup Mile, which is once again his main objective.
LoPresti, who scored his first Woodbine Mile win with Turallure in 2011, is
in line for an historic third consecutive win here. Hall of Famers Neil Drysdale
and the late Bobby Frankel are the only other trainers to have three career
Woodbine Mile wins, but their trios did not come in a row.
Trade Storm is a cut below the best European milers, but the closer excelled
at Meydan earlier this season, and could find Woodbine congenial. Formerly just
a handicapper, the David Simcock charge burst onto the international scene at
the Dubai World Cup Carnival with a pair of devastating successes. After blowing
away handicap foes on February 14, he disposed of a more accomplished field,
including Musir, in the March 2 Zabeel Mile. Trade Storm then showed that he
could hold his own at the Group 1 level when fourth in the March 30 Dubai Duty
Free. The runner-up in the Duty Free, The Apache, was recently first past the
post in the Arlington Million, only to be demoted to second for interference.
Although winless since returning to England, Trade Storm has been mixing it
up in elite company. He was fifth, beaten a little more than three lengths by
Declaration of War, in the June 18 Queen Anne at Royal Ascot; a close fourth in
the July 13 Summer Mile back at Ascot; fourth in the July 31 Sussex at Glorious
Goodwood on unsuitably soft ground to all-stars Toronado, Dawn Approach and
Declaration of War; and most recently third to Afsare (last year’s Arlington
Million runner-up) in the August 24 Celebration Mile at Goodwood.
Hall of Famer Gary Stevens picks up the mount on Trade Storm, an 8-1 chance
on the morning line.
Za Approval, another who prefers quicker conditions, was rerouted here after
being scratched from the August 31 Bernard Baruch at a soggy Saratoga. A
half-brother to 2006 Breeders’ Cup Mile upsetter and champion turf horse
Miesque’s Approval, he has been in the form of his life this year for Christophe
Clement. The Live Oak Plantation homebred captured the March 30 Appleton at
Gulfstream and the May 18 Red Bank at Monmouth, and finished second to
front-running Obviously in the June 29 Shoemaker Mile at Hollywood in his latest
venture. Za Approval has been pegged as the 4-1 second choice with new rider
Garrett Gomez.
The remaining three entrants served up the trifecta in the local prep, the
seven-furlong Play the King on August 25 — Dimension, Excaper and Riding the
River.
British-bred Dimension was a blistering winner in wire-to-wire fashion in a
final time of 1:19.89, just off the course mark of 1:19.38 set by Soaring Free
in 2004. Soaring Free was also the last Play the King hero to double up in the
Woodbine Mile, and Dimension seeks to follow in his hoofsteps. Should he spring
the upset, Dimension would continue the storybook success of his trainer and
co-owner Conor Murphy, who won £1 million in an
astute wager and subsequently established his own partnership. David Moran will
try to engineer a similar trip.
Excaper chased Dimension throughout before
settling for second in the Play the King, crossing the wire 2 1/4 lengths behind
the convincing winner. Two starts back in his four-year-old debut, Excaper
rolled to a front-running score over the same course and distance in a sprightly
1:19.91. The Ian Black trainee has back class as the runner-up in the 2011
Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, but is still looking for his first stakes win.
Reigning Canadian champion turf male Riding the
River will be making his third straight appearance in the Woodbine Mile, having
finished fifth to Turallure in 2011 and fourth to Wise Dan last year. Riding the
River is taking the same path as in 2012. The David Cotey charge scored a
repeat victory in the June 23 King Edward, but his title defense in the July 22
Nijinsky didn’t pan out as well, and he checked in a troubled seventh. Riding
the River got back on track with a late-running third in the Play the King, and
hopes that the third time’s the proverbial charm in the Woodbine Mile. By
Wiseman’s Ferry, like Wise Dan, he gives their sire a chance at the exacta.
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