Wise Dan all charged up for the Shadwell Turf Mile
Trainer Charles Lopresti didn’t opt for the Grade 1, $750,000 Shadwell Turf Mile for Wise Dan straight away that is going to be held at Keeneland’s turf course over a distance of 1 mile on 6 October, 2012, until he had a lengthy conversation about it with
owner Morton Fink.
“I thought, you know, if I don’t run, I’m going to have to breeze this horse probably Saturday or next Tuesday or somewhere along in there, and then I’m going to have to work him two, maybe more times for the Breeders’ Cup,” said Lopresti. “And I thought:
You know what, all I really have to do is lead him across the street and run him. And maybe I’m doing the wrong thing, but it’s kind of hard to look into the crystal ball. But the horse has never been better. Otherwise I wouldn’t do it.”
The decision was influenced by Wise Dan’s dominating performance in the Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile at Woodbine’s turf track over a mile as well, when he kept Hunters Bay at bay by a convincing margin of 3 ¼ lengths.
The Kentucky bred son of Wiseman’s Ferry, Wise Dan continued the good run he started late last season, when he landed two back-to-back victories in the Grade 2 Fayette Stakes and ended the season with the win in the Grade 1 Clark Handicap.
He started the 2012 season in the same manner, and turned in his hat-trick by landing the Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes over at Keeneland’s synthetic surface and posted a staggering Beyer Speed Figure of 117, with a 10 ½ length victory to top things off.
Wise Dan is really fast, and the freak of a horse has posted triple digit Beyer Speed Figures in his last 4 starts.
Out of Wolf Power’s mare Lisa Danielle, Wise Dan in his second race of the 2012 season finished as the runner-up, Ron the Greek, in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill Downs, but never looked back after that narrow defeat, as he landed the Grade
2 Fourstardave Handicap prior to the Woodbine Mile win.
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