Wise Dan looks ready for return upon arrival at Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Two-time defending Horse of the Year Wise Dan arrived at Saratoga on Monday morning, looking fit and ready to return to action less than two months after undergoing emergency colic surgery in Kentucky on May 16.

Trainer Charlie LoPresti was all smiles while showing off Wise Dan and talking about how well his star has progressed since the surgery, which was performed at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital to repair a nephrosplenic entrapment that flared up just 13 days after his victory in the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.

“The one thing I want to emphasize is that he did not have a twisted gut, as many people wrote,” LoPresti said. “He had a nephrosplenic entrapment, which means the small intestine gets enlarged over the spleen and can become strangled. By the time the surgeons had him on the operating table, the condition had pretty much repaired itself. He never had any blood loss, never had a piece of his intestine cut out, never had any resection of his bowel. As far as colic surgery goes, it was the best-case scenario. Basically, what we were dealing with was healing the incision.”

LoPresti was able to put Wise Dan back under tack 3 1/2 weeks after the surgery. He breezed him for the first time, an easy half-mile over the Keeneland turf course in 50.40 seconds, on July 11.

“It was kind of the Keeneland people to let us use the turf course with all the construction going on over there right now,” LoPresti said. “He came home his final quarter in 24 [seconds], galloped out in 1:02 and change, and wouldn’t blow out a match when he got back to the barn after the work.”

LoPresti planned to send Wise Dan to the track here Tuesday and, if all goes well, breeze him over the Oklahoma turf course Friday or Saturday. He has not ruled out a possible attempt by Wise Dan to win his third straight Fourstardave on Aug. 9.

“Basically, all we missed since he won the Woodford Reserve was 3 1/2 weeks of training,” LoPresti said. “I’ll work him an easy half, maybe five-eighths, we’ll just see how things go. I don’t really have a goal right now other than I’d like to run him here this summer. If we miss the Fourstardave, we could go in the Bernard Baruch [Aug. 30] or even the Woodward [Aug. 30], although going a mile and one-eighth on the dirt first time out might be a little hard on him. I just don’t want to crush him with weight coming back off the surgery. I wouldn’t want to see him carrying 130 pounds and conceding 15 pounds or more to everyone if he does run in the Fourstardave.”

LoPresti said he’s also a bit reticent to look down the road too far at this point.

“If you held a gun to my head, the ultimate goal would probably be the Breeders’ Cup Mile again,” LoPresti said. “In a perfect world, I think it would be pretty cool to do that, stay the course with him like I did last year, and then at the end of the year try to win a Grade 1 with him on the dirt in the Clark Handicap.”