Wise Dan making progress but in no rush to return

Wise Dan, the Horse of the Year in 2012 and 2013, continues to recover from a cannon-bone fracture discovered in his right front ankle in October, leaving trainer Charlie LoPresti optimistic that he can resume light training next month with continued progress.

“He’s doing great, getting turned out six or seven hours in a paddock each day,” LoPresti said Friday. “He looks to be sound on his ankle. We’ll re-radiograph it soon, and if everything looks good, he can get back to jogging when the weather breaks maybe sometime in mid-February.”

LoPresti said the last radiograph showed that the fracture was healing on schedule.

Wise Dan, an 8-year-old gelding, won all four of his starts last year and survived a late-spring bout of colic that required surgery.

He quickly recuperated and returned to take the Bernard Baruch Handicap in August at Saratoga before winning the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile on Oct. 4. Shortly afterward, his ankle injury was discovered, and he was withdrawn from consideration for the Breeders’ Cup Mile, a race he had won the previous two years.

Surgery was not required on the fracture, and Wise Dan began walking under tack late last fall.

Even if X-rays of Wise Dan’s right ankle are favorable next month and he receives the veterinary go-ahead to race, LoPresti said he still intends to take a cautious approach with training him this year.

Although the horse consistently has started his seasonal campaigns in the Maker’s 46 Mile at his home base at Keeneland in April, LoPresti isn’t sure Wise Dan will make that race, noting that he wants to take things slowly.

Keeneland also now has a dirt surface for its main track that is susceptible to closure during freezing weather, which potentially could delay Wise Dan’s training. The track’s prior Polytrack surface better withstood the winter climate in Kentucky.

Keeneland still has a small training track with a Polytrack surface, but most horsemen prefer to breeze over the larger main-track oval.

Wise Dan is a finalist for two Eclipse Awards for 2014 in the turf male and older male categories, but he is not expected to win either when the awards are given out Saturday night in a ceremony at Gulfstream Park. The BC Turf winner Main Sequence, a Horse of the Year finalist, is expected to take the turf male award, and Main Sequence and the Met Mile winner Palace Malice oppose Wise Dan in the older male division.