All systems go for Wise Dan

Wise Dan had his final serious workout in preparation for his much-awaited return to racing, breezing five furlongs in 1:00 on Tuesday before dawn at his home base at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky.

Wise Dan, Horse of the Year in 2012 and 2013 for owner-breeder Mort Fink, is scheduled to make his first start in nearly a year in the Grade 1 Woodbine Mile on Sept. 13 in suburban Toronto.

The Tuesday breeze, which came over a fast main track and with Jenn Patterson aboard, was the seventh workout for Wise Dan since the 8-year-old gelding launched a comeback from an ankle injury revealed last October, shortly after he won the Shadwell Mile at Keeneland. Wise Dan was cleared for serious training in late June and had his first recorded work July 17.

Trainer Charlie LoPresti said he caught Wise Dan going out another furlong in about 12 seconds during Tuesday’s work.

“He finished up strong, the way he normally does, even though he was never asked any part of the way,” LoPresti said.

Wise Dan, winner in 23 of 31 career starts and more than $7.5 million, is one of 31 nominees to the $1 million Woodbine Mile, a turf race he won during both of his Horse of the Year campaigns. John Velazquez has the mount.

LoPresti said Wise Dan will be sent by van to Woodbine on Sept. 10, three days out from the race, and that he might send the gelding through “something like a three-eighths blowout” before then.

“But all our serious work is done,” he said.

The Woodbine Mile most likely will serve as the lone prep for Wise Dan prior to the Oct. 31 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland. The Woodbine Mile is a Win and You’re In race toward the Breeders’ Cup.