Saratoga notes: Wise Dan to carry 129 pounds in Fourstardave

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Wise Dan, the reigning Horse of the Year, was assigned 129 pounds for Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap, the race he won last year to start his current seven-race winning streak.

The impost is one pound more than he carried while winning the Grade 2 Firecracker Handicap on June 29. He will be spotting his five expected rivals 11 to 12 pounds. Skyring, the winner of the Dixie Stakes, and Za Approval, the runner-up in the Shoemaker Mile, each were assigned 118. Lea, second to Wise Dan in the Firecracker; King Kreesa, the Poker Handicap winner; and Mr. Commons each were assigned 117 pounds.

“The more I think about it, I’m OK with it,” said Charlie LoPresti, who trains Wise Dan. “They did what they had to do to make the race go.”

LoPresti noted that the Fourstardave would be the last handicap race Wise Dan would run in this year. Possible upcoming races for him such as the Woodbine Mile, Shadwell Turf Mile, and Breeders’ Cup Mile are not handicaps.

On Monday, Lea worked a half-mile on dirt in 49.53 after having worked the last two weeks on turf.

“We’re on schedule for Saturday,” said Al Stall Jr., the trainer of Lea. “He worked two good times on the turf – very happy with how he did. Gave him a week off last week, just two-minute-licked three-quarters out in the middle of the racetrack, blew him out a little bit this morning. The weights all make sense. He beat us on the muscle last time in Louisville, so we know we’re up against it, but we understand how the weights shook out. We’re looking for firm [turf]. I’d just as soon let him hear his feet rattle.”

No Breeders’ Cup for Delaunay

Though the favored Delaunay came out of his fourth-place finish in Sunday’s Grade 1 Vanderbilt in good shape, his connections have decided to turn him out for 60 days and will not point him to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

“He looks like a million dollars,” owner Maggi Moss said Monday. “He’s had 40 races since April 2010, and he’s never been off the racetrack. I’m going to give him 60 days at a friend’s [farm] and get him ready for Fair Grounds. The pressure’s off. Yay! I’m so flipped out over this horse. I’m convinced this is the right thing to do.”

Moss said Delaunay could return in the Thanksgiving Day Handicap at Fair Grounds, a race he won last year as part of a six-race winning streak that included the Grade 2 Churchill Downs Sprint. The streak was broken when Delaunay finished second to Gentlemen’s Bet in the Iowa Sprint Handicap in June.

Delaunay was beaten 2 1/2 lengths in the Vanderbilt and missed out on second by a half-length. Moss said jockey Rosie Napravnik told her and trainer Tom Amoss that she didn’t think Delaunay handled the track.

Boisterous sharp for Sword Dancer

Boisterous, the winner of the Grade 1 Man o’ War in his last start, drilled four furlongs in 46.87 seconds over the Oklahoma turf course Monday in preparation for the Sword Dancer Invitational on Aug. 17. Boisterous appeared to just be cruising under exercise rider Cecil Putnam, getting his final quarter in 23.11.

“That’s about as good as I’ve ever seen him breeze by himself,” trainer Shug McGaughey said. “He was relaxed, and he kept on running.”

Others pointing to the Sword Dancer include Big Blue Kitten and Optimizer.

◗ Rydilluc will face five rivals, including Charming Kitten and Notacatbutallama, in Friday’s Grade 2, $200,000 National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf. Also entered were Get in Line, who will be coupled with Charming Kitten as part of a Ken and Sarah Ramsey-owned entry, North Slope, and Balance the Books.