Wise Dan in light training

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan has done well over the past few weeks in his recovery from a fracture to his right ankle, trainer Charlie LoPresti said Sunday at Churchill Downs. Wise Dan is under light training to harden the bone in the area surrounding the injury, which was incurred last fall.

Wise Dan, based at Keeneland, “probably spends three hours each day out of his stall,” LoPresti said.

LoPresti said Wise Dan alternates between jogging and tack walking each day and stands on a vibration plate to stimulate blood flow.

Equine orthopedic surgeon Larry Bramlage has scheduled Wise Dan for a round of X-rays and evaluation on Sunday, LoPresti said.

“In a perfect world, I’d like him to say, ‘Go ahead with him,’ ” LoPresti said. “But he might say, ‘Jog him every day, incorporate some galloping in there.’ That would be really good if he would tell us that, too.”

The 8-year-old Wise Dan has won 11 Grade 1 races, highlighted by two editions of the Breeders’ Cup Mile, and has earned more than $7.5 million. He is unraced since winning the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland Oct. 4, with his injury being discovered shortly thereafter.

LoPresti reiterated that Wise Dan is sound and happy and will only return to racing if he is 100 percent.

“Even if the radiographs look good, I’ll know when I get him back in training if he is the old Wise Dan,” he said. “Everything that I see from him right now tells me that he is.”