Bourbon Resolution making surface switch in Wise Dan Stakes

The Grade 2, $250,000 Wise Dan Stakes will be run Saturday night on the Churchill Downs turf in honor of the two-time Horse of the Year who was a 10-time Grade 1 winner on the grass, including two editions of the Breeders’ Cup Mile.

But Wise Dan also was versatile, winning the Grade 1 Clark Handicap and finishing a close second in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap on dirt, and earning multiple graded stakes victories on a synthetic track. Bourbon Resolution will be attempting to channel a bit of the race namesake’s magic when he switches surfaces to try turf for the first time in the Wise Dan.

Bourbon Resolution won the Grade 3 Ben Ali Stakes in April at Keeneland. He most recently finished seventh in the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes on the Kentucky Oaks undercard.

Bourbon Resolution, by New Year’s Day, is out of Vindicated Ghost, who won on the turf. His second dam, Dixie Ghost, was multiple graded stakes-placed on the grass. Bourbon Resolution has worked twice on turf recently at Churchill Downs, including a bullet five furlongs on June 2.

“I really like his action when we’ve worked him on the grass,” trainer Ian Wilkes said. “He’s a horse that I think could run all day. When we first worked him on the grass, I could tell he was stretching out better than he had previously done on the dirt.”

Chris Landeros is named to ride Bourbon Resolution, who drew the outside post, 14, in the Wise Dan. The eclectic cast includes a pair of established graded/group stakes performers coming off long layoffs in Itsinthepost and El Picaro.

Itsinthepost will be shipping in from California for Jeff Mullins for his first outing since August 2018, and regular rider Tyler Baze will be in the irons. The gelding is a seven-time graded stakes winner. Most of his wins have come in California, but he did ship to win the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes at Keeneland in 2017.

Chilean champion El Picaro, a multiple Group 1 winner in his native country, is entered to make his U.S. debut, which also is his first start since November. Javier Castellano is named to ride for Ignacio Correas.

Admission Office won a Keeneland allowance in his first start for trainer Brian Lynch, and his first off a six-month layoff. He then finished second by a half-length to Catholic Boy in the Grade 2 Dixie Stakes at Pimlico. Finishing sixth in the Dixie was graded stakes winner Inspector Lynley, who was second in last year’s Wise Dan and returns in Saturday’s edition.

Hot Springs has won 4 of 5 starts on the Churchill Downs turf course, including the Grade 3 Commonwealth Turf and the Jefferson Cup last fall. He suffered his first local loss when seventh in the Opening Verse Stakes the first week of May. Fellow Wise Dan entrant Siem Riep won the Opening Verse, while First Premio was fourth. First Premio, who won the Colonel E.R. Bradley Stakes earlier this year at Fair Grounds, also returns in the Wise Dan.