Wise Dan back on the beam

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Anyone harboring doubts as to whether Wise Dan might not be quite the beast he has been during his last two Eclipse Award-winning campaigns after undergoing emergency colic surgery earlier this year, may have changed their opinion had they happened to be at Saratoga at the crack of dawn on Saturday to catch the champion at work.

With regular rider Damien Rock aboard, Wise Dan was among the first horses on the track when it opened at 5:30 a.m. and the first to make the clocker’s tab after breezing five furlongs in 1:01.72 about 10 minutes later. The best part of the work was yet to come, as Wise Dan galloped out with the same kind of energy he had shown here the past two summers over the Oklahoma turf course, going six furlongs in 1:14.57 and seven-eighths in 1:27.64 before pulling up a mile in 1:42.05.

Trainer Charlie LoPresti was all smiles at the barn at the mere mention of the work several hours later.

“I’ve just been trying to build him up, that’s why I switched his works to the dirt, and I knew last week when I worked him with that other horse I was where I wanted to be,” said LoPresti. “I just turned the switch on a little bit putting him in company and it kind of woke him up a bit and set him up for this week. This morning, Damien said he was just sitting there and Dan was dragging him around, that he kind of had to talk him out of it to keep him from going too fast.”

LoPresti said his biggest issue now is deciding where to run Wise Dan next, his options being the Bernard Baruch on the grass here on Aug. 30, the Grade 1 Woodward over the main track that same afternoon, or the $1 million Woodbine Mile two weeks later.

“I knew earlier this month I was still two works away which is why I didn’t run him in the Fourstardave,” said LoPresti. “Now the question is what do we do? I’ll talk to Mr. Fink” – owner Morton Fink – “and then make a decision. If we run here in the Baruch, we don’t get to run in the Woodbine Mile, which is $1 million and a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup. But it figures to be a much easier race for him first time back. We can always come back in the Shadwell Mile after that. We did nominate to the Woodward, so I’m not even going to rule that out the way he’s been working on the dirt.”