Trainer Charlie LoPresti remains hopeful that two-time Horse of the Year Wise
Dan can make his 2014 debut in the $300,000 Maker’s 46 Mile on April 11.
“He is doing well. He is an amazing horse,” LoPresti said of Wise Dan, who
has had five works since returning to the barn at Keeneland last month. “Right
now, I’d say he is 75 percent (to run), but it has to warm up and not have any
hiccups.”
One of LoPresti’s concerns has been the effect of a cold winter and early
spring on the turf course.
“The turf course needs some grass on it. It is not just here; I don’t have
any grass in my front yard,” LoPresti said. “He is a year older and I am not
going to do anything to jeopardize the year.”
A five-time graded stakes winner at Keeneland, Wise Dan started his 2013
championship campaign with a victory in the Maker’s 46 Mile. Only Kip Deville
(2007-08) has won the Maker’s 46 Mile in consecutive years.
The seven-year-old Wise Dan is owned by his breeder, Morton Fink. Fink also
owns and bred Successful Dan, the eight-year-old half-brother to Wise Dan.
Winner of the Ben Ali last year, Successful Dan also is nearing a return to
the races.
“He is doing very well and has been training as good or better than Wise
Dan,” LoPresti said of Successful Dan, who has not run since a third-place
finish in the Woodward at Saratoga at the end of August.
“He gets inflammation in the ligament that has given him trouble and we have
to watch it and that is why we stopped on him last year. I may have to back off
a little,” LoPresti said of Successful Dan, who is fewer than $2,000 away from
becoming a millionaire. “He might run in the Ben Ali or the Alysheba (on May 2
at Churchill Downs) or not until Saratoga.
“The better races for him are in the summer and fall.”
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