Wise Dan takes on Cityscape in Woodbine Mile

Making just his third career start on the grass in the Grade 2 Fourstardave

Handicap August 11, Wise Dan burst through along the inside to rout the field by

five lengths. His previous two turf attempts came last season, with a sharp

score in the Grade 2 Firecracker Handicap and a somewhat flat fourth to Gio

Ponti in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland. John Velazquez, his

regular rider ever since the Clark, will guide him from post 3.

"I'm glad we didn't get the 1-hole and I wouldn't want to be all the way on

the outside either -- I'm happy with it," Lopresti said of the post position.

"I'll let John Velazquez tell me what he wants to do," the trainer added. "He

knows him better than anybody. Johnny said to me when you get that horse covered

up, he's a lot better and he relaxes. He did a good job with him the last time.

I'll talk to Johnny and he'll know what to do. He's ridden him enough."

Cityscape sets the standard of international class, against which Wise Dan

will be tested. Trained by Roger Charlton, the Juddmonte Farms homebred recorded

admirable efforts in defeat in a trio of Group 1s last campaign -- a third to

Canford Cliffs and Goldikova in the 2011 Queen Anne at Royal Ascot, and

photo-finish losses in last fall's Premio Vittorio di Capua and Hong Kong Mile.

"He's been doing all his work so far on the Polytrack," he added. "But we

will be on the grass tomorrow. "The course has dried up. It's a little on the

quick side now. We're just going to familiarize him with the track. We're just

going to breeze, maybe six furlongs." 

"We know Wise Dan is a wonderful horse. We really respect him. It's going to

be a tough race. But our fellow is good right now."

Two other Europeans have shipped in with Cityscape -- Worthadd and Dance and

Dance. Worthadd, a dual Italian classic winner and highweight at three, was

transferred to English trainer Sir Mark Prescott for 2012. An emphatic winner of

the Group 3 Badener Meile in his debut for the yard, the son of Dubawi has

dropped his three subsequent outings, but was only just denied in the Group 2

Meilen Trophy in his latest at Hannover July 15. Worthadd often races up or on

the pace, and figures to show early foot from the outside post 9 with Luis

Contreras.

The Ed Vaughan-trained Dance and Dance hopes for better luck in this second

trip to Woodbine. One year ago, he was a luckless sixth in the Woodbine Mile,

beaten fewer than two lengths after being stymied in traffic down the stretch.

Dance and Dance has run well occasionally in the interim, notably when runner-up

to the useful Side Glance in the Group 3 Diomed, leaving Worthadd back in

fourth. The Royal Applause gelding has yet to win a stakes, however, and must

put forth a career best for new rider Garrett Gomez.

The remaining five entrants are locally-based. Leading the home defense is

Riding the River, who landed the Grade 2 King Edward over this course and

one-mile distance on Queen's Plate Day and followed up in the Grade 2 Nijinsky

at about a furlong farther. The David Cotey charge didn't have a clear passage

in his prep for this race, the Grade 2 Play the King August 26, and had to

settle for second to Big Band Sound. Riding the River was a sneakily-good fifth

at 34-1 in the 2011 Woodbine Mile, and is much improved this year.

Reformed claimer Big Band Sound had been knocking on the door in graded

stakes prior to the Play the King. That seven-furlong trip might have suited the

sprinter better, especially considering that he was outdueled by Riding the

River in the King Edward, his only prior try at a mile.

Hunters Bay was in superb form over the Woodbine Polytrack this summer,

garnering both the Grade 3 Eclipse and Grade 3 Dominion Day, but makes an

audacious turf debut in this spot. The Reade Baker trainee looks to bounce back

from a poor seventh in the Grade 1 Whitney Invitational Handicap on the dirt at

Saratoga, where he was beaten more than 13 lengths by Fort Larned.

Jockey Emma-Jayne Wilson is eager to see how Hunters Bay fares.

"The report back (aboard Hunters Bay's gallop over the turf) was excellent,"

Wilson said. "First of all, I break it down into two cases. He's been put into a

million dollar (race) for one reason…because they think he's good enough. Reade

wouldn't put him in here if he didn't think he was good enough.

"And, two, to see the turf for the first time, all horses will run on grass.

Some horses just like it better than others. I'm confident this horse takes

everything in stride and he's such a class act. I'm confident he'll be able to

handle it. It's just whether he'll be able to handle it to the same extent as

some of these others." 

"I think in the Whitney, it was a big task to ask him to step up in class the

way we did and ship and handle a different kind of surface than what he's had

success on.  It's a challenge (the Mile), but that's what you need to do

with these kind of horses, when they've shown you they're ready to step it up." 

Hollinger, Canada's champion two-year-old colt of 2009, is a fairly

consistent type who has been chasing Riding the River of late. Back in February,

the Roger Attfield pupil was runner-up to Get Stormy in the Grade 1 Gulfstream

Park Turf.

"He's stepping up into a tough spot," Attfield said. "But everybody decided

to give him a go. He's been running consistently OK but he hasn't won this year.

"He was Group 1-placed in the winter in Florida, and he ran at Keeneland,

then here, so we gave him a bit of time on the farm. He's come back. He's got

his fighting face on. Whether he's good enough is another thing." 

Rounding out the field is Artic Fern, most recently fourth in the

Play the King.

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