Wise Dan targeting Bernard Baruch

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Wise Dan, the reigning two-time Horse of the Year, will run in the Grade 2, $250,000 Bernard Baruch Handicap at Saratoga on Aug. 30, trainer Charlie LoPresti said Tuesday.

“It’s time to run him,” LoPresti said. “I brought him here to run.”

LoPresti said the only reason he wouldn’t run in the Bernard Baruch is if he thought Wise Dan would be conceding too much weight to a speed horse “that could just steal it and that we have to chase.”

“Unless something goes wrong, he is definitely going to be entered in the Bernard Baruch,” LoPresti said.

The Bernard Baruch, run at 1 1/16 miles, would be Wise Dan’s first start since he beat Seek Again in the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on May 3. Two weeks later, Wise Dan underwent emergency colic surgery.

Wise Dan’s first few works since resuming training were average for him, but in the last two weeks, his breezes have indicated to LoPresti that Wise Dan “is as good right now as he’s been.”

Wise Dan has won 12 consecutive turf races, a streak that began in the Grade 2 Fourstardave here in 2012. He has won two runnings each of the Fourstardave, Maker’s Mark 46 Mile, Woodbine Mile, and Breeders’ Cup Mile. His only loss in the last two years came in the Shadwell Turf Mile, which was rained off the turf and moved to the Polytrack.

LoPresti said that how Wise Dan fares in the Bernard Baruch would dictate his fall campaign. If the Bernard Baruch were to be an easy race for him, LoPresti could run Wise Dan back two weeks later in the Woodbine Mile on Sept. 14 and then in the Shadwell Turf Mile on Oct. 4 en route to the Breeders’ Cup Mile. If the Bernard Baruch were a hard race, he could wait for the Shadwell Turf Mile.

LoPresti said Wise Dan would have one more work before the Bernard Baruch. The work will be on dirt, LoPresti said, because of how sharply Wise Dan is training on turf.

“He’s like he was last year,” LoPresti said. “I dare not to take him to the turf and work him now because he’ll throw one of those 59s in, and I don’t need that now. I got enough slow, easy and two really good dirt works in him. Get one more dirt work in him, and I’m good to go wherever.”