Churchill Downs: Wise Dan works 'some kind of good'

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Wise Dan had another sizzling breeze Saturday morning at Keeneland while trainer Charlie LoPresti continued to mull the future possibilities for the 2012 Horse of the Year.

Wise Dan went five furlongs in 58.80 seconds over the Polytrack surface at the Lexington, Ky., track and still is tentatively pointing to the Grade 2 Firecracker at Churchill Downs on the night of June 29, said LoPresti, although that itinerary is subject to change, dependent on what transpired Saturday night in the Stephen Foster Handicap at Churchill.

LoPresti had Successful Dan as the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the Foster, the first Win and You’re In event in North America this year for the Breeders’ Cup. Half-brothers Wise Dan and Successful Dan both were bred and are owned by Morton Fink.

“Mr. Fink and I have talked a lot about it, and we’re going to be taking all this race-by-race the rest of the year,” said LoPresti. “If Successful Dan wins (the Foster), then we’ll probably skip the Firecracker with Wise Dan and train him up to the Whitney,” another Win and You’re In event set for Aug. 3 on the Saratoga dirt.

“If Successful Dan runs well but doesn’t win, we’ll probably just keep aiming for the Classic with him and try back for the Win and You’re In in the Whitney. And Wise Dan would stay on the grass. We’d run in the Firecracker and go on to one of those grass races at Saratoga,” those being the Aug. 10 Fourstardave and Aug. 31 Bernard Baruch.

“But if (Successful Dan) does win, and he’s already in the Classic, we’d probably try to get a Grade 1 win on the dirt with Wise Dan in the Whitney and expand our options with him for down the road, if that makes any sense. We do want to keep the two of them separated as long as we can.”

LoPresti said the Saturday work for Wise Dan was “some kind of good” and that he believes the 6-year-old gelding is razor sharp.

“God bless ‘em that he’s not in the Stephen Foster tonight,” he said with a laugh.

Meanwhile, LoPresti said 6-year-old Turallure, the $1.3-million earner who now has lost seven races in a row after finishing fifth in an overnight stakes at Arlington Park last weekend, has him “befuddled,” adding: “I don’t really know what to do with him. He’s just not showing what he showed two years ago.”

Dullahan has first breeze back

Dullahan had his first recorded workout since running twice in Dubai when he breezed a half-mile Saturday morning in 47.80 seconds over a fast track at Churchill.

With Faustino Aguilar up, Dullahan went from the three-eighths pole to the seven-eighths pole and was caught past the six-furlong pole with a 1:00.80 out time by Churchill clocker John Nichols.

“Just something to get him started back,” said Dale Romans, who trains Dullahan for Donegal Racing.

Dullahan recently returned to Churchill after a freshening of about two months at WinStar Farm. His only two races this year were in March in Dubai, where he finished 11th in both the prep for the World Cup and the World Cup itself.

Dullahan, by Even the Score, is a 4-year-old half-brother to the 2009 Kentucky Derby winner, Mine That Bird. Last year he won two Grade 1 races, the Toyota Blue Grass and the Pacific Classic, while racing over a variety of surfaces.

Romans said he has no specific race in mind for Dullahan. “We’ll have plenty of options when the time comes,” he said.