Wise Dan to be honored

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Wise Dan, the Horse of the Year in 2012 and 2013, will be here Saturday night for the race renamed in his honor. The 9-year-old gelding will be led over to the paddock along with the horses running in the Grade 2 turf race, then publicly acknowledged and paraded after the others leave the paddock for the race.

“We’re absolutely thrilled about this,” said Charlie LoPresti, who trained Wise Dan to win 23 of 31 starts and $7.5 million for owner and breeder Morton Fink.

Before this year, the $200,000 Wise Dan Stakes had been known as the Firecracker Handicap. Wise Dan won the 2011 and 2013 renewals of the Firecracker, with the second victory coming amid a driving rainstorm that resulted in an Eclipse Award-winning photograph taken by Jamie Hernandez.

LoPresti said health issues will prevent Fink from traveling from Chicago to be on hand, “but Mr. Fink is extremely excited the horse is being honored in this way.”

“He told me he thinks people forgot about Wise Dan already, and I laughed and said, ‘No, I don’t think they’re going to do that for a while,’ ” LoPresti said.

Wise Dan is retired on LoPresti’s farm, located southeast of Lexington, Ky. “He’s about 200 pounds heavier and loving life,” he said.

The Pizza Man, the winner of the 2015 Arlington Million, will make his first start in more than four months as the most accomplished starter in the 1 1/16-mile Wise Dan, which is a half-furlong longer than the traditional distance of the Firecracker.

Busy Foster evening

Aside from the five stakes and the parading of Wise Dan, Churchill has these activities planned between races on a busy Saturday night program:

◗ Engraved trophy presentations to the connections of 2016 Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist. Trainer Doug O’Neill has confirmed that he will be present, but owner Paul Reddam and jockey Mario Gutierrez will not.

◗ A tribute to Mike Battaglia, who has been the Churchill oddsmaker for more than 40 years while also having served the track as announcer (1977-96) and simulcast host (1997-2007). Battaglia, who lives in northern Kentucky, will be in attendance with family and friends.

◗ The Bet or No Bet promotion before races 6 through 9, whereby randomly selected fans can make a $1,000 win wager or just pocket $100.

◗ An unveiling of the official event logos for the 2017 Kentucky Derby and Oaks.