Wise Dan to face six in Maker’s 46 Mile

Wise Dan’s preparation for his season debut is now complete (Keeneland/Coady Photography) It was a busy Tuesday for two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan, who turned in a three-furlong breeze at Keeneland and was also entered for his first race of the season in Friday’s Grade 1, $300,000 Maker’s 46 Mile. With regular morning partner Damien Rock aboard, Wise Dan covered the quarter-mile of the stretch in :22 4/5 and galloped out three furlongs in :35 on his own. “I told Damien to let him roll at the quarter pole,” trainer Charlie LoPresti said. “I got him in 11s (seconds) at every pole.”

Wise Dan kicked off his 2013 Horse of the Year title defense in the Maker’s
Mark Mile, which he won by a length. The seven-year-old gelding won five of his
six remaining starts last season, culminating in a repeat victory in the
Breeders’ Cup Mile at Santa Anita on November 2.

Weather remains one of the factors for LoPresti regarding Wise Dan’s
participation Friday. There was a slight chance of rain in the forecast for
later Tuesday and a 40 percent chance of thunderstorms Friday.

“It depends on the weather and I am going to walk the turf course today to
see how much grass there is on it and see what I think,” LoPresti said.

Weather has been an issue for Wise Dan in recent months. Based at Keeneland
during a prolonged and bitterly cold winter in Central Kentucky, Wise Dan might
be playing catch-up with some of his Maker’s 46 Mile rivals, who have been
training and racing in warmer climes.

Gulfstream Park Turf winner Lochte has been an early-season surprise (Adam Coglianese Photography) “You have to get started somewhere and you can’t worry about getting beat,” LoPresti said. “In a perfect world, I’d like to have another five-eighths work, but with the weather that we had, that was the hand I was dealt. “If he is going to be vulnerable, this is it because the others that are in there have been running.” Among these is Lochte, who has been a surprising development in the turf male division. Still eligible for a first-level allowance on January 1, the Medaglia d’Oro gelding passed that condition in late January and then pulled off a 39-1 upset in the 1 1/8-mile Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap less than three weeks later.

Lochte worked three furlongs in :36 after the renovation break on Tuesday
with Jennifer Young, assistant to trainer Marcus Vitali, aboard. Working on his
own, Lochte went through the stretch in :24 and galloped out in :36 to the
seven-eighths pole.

“That was good,” Young said. “He had done his major work before he left
Calder (a half-mile in :48 on March 30).”

Lochte exits a second-place finish in the March 8 Frank E. Kilroe Mile at
Santa Anita. Fourth as the favorite in that race was the returning Za Approval,
a three-time graded stakes winner last year who finished second behind Wise Dan
in both the Breeders’ Cup Mile and Woodbine Mile. The gray Christophe Clement
trainee drew the rail for his Keeneland debut.

Also entered in the Maker’s 46 Mile are recent Canadian Turf hero Reload, the
Grade 3-placed Gentleman’s Kitten and Kaigun, and the lightly-raced Brazilian
import Alakazan Alakazan.

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