Woodbine Mile likely comeback spot for Wise Dan

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – While fans in this region anxiously await a decision on whether American Pharoah will come to Saratoga for the Grade 1 Travers on Aug. 29, it looks like another of the game’s stars will not be coming here this summer.

Wise Dan, the two-time Horse of the Year, will likely make his return to the races in the Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile on Sept. 13, trainer Charles LoPresti said Tuesday.

LoPresti hasn’t ruled out the Grade 2, $250,000 Bernard Baruch here Sept. 7, closing day of the meet, but said there were several reasons why the Woodbine Mile “makes the most sense” for Wise Dan. An 8-year-old gelding, Wise Dan won the Woodbine Mile in 2012 and 2013.

In addition to being worth four times as much money as the Baruch, the Woodbine Mile is a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Mile while the Baruch is not. Also, the Woodbine Mile is not a handicap; the Bernard Baruch is. As an 11-time Grade 1 winner, Wise Dan would most certainly have to concede weight in the Bernard Baruch, which he won last year.

“He likes that Woodbine track,” LoPresti said Tuesday from Keeneland where Wise Dan is based. “It would fit in our schedule. We can run in that, and if he happens to win, we could look at the Shadwell, or if we wanted to sit and wait for the Breeders’ Cup we could do that, too.”

The $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile is scheduled for Oct. 3 and is run over the same Keeneland turf course that the Breeders’ Cup Mile will be run over Oct. 31.

Wise Dan has not raced since winning last year’s Shadwell Turf Mile, his 23rd victory in 31 career starts. About a week later, his connections announced that Wise Dan had suffered a non-displaced fracture of his right foreleg.

Wise Dan has done extremely well in his recovery and has breezed four times, including a workout Sunday over the dirt that Keeneland clockers recorded as a six-furlong move in 1:13.20. LoPresti said that was actually the gallop-out time of a five-furlong move in 1:01.

“I don’t want to jinx myself, but he’s doing so good,” LoPresti said. “The way you saw him training at Saratoga last summer, that’s what we saw the other day. He came home in 11 and change and kept on going. He’s a lot fitter than people think because of all the preliminary work I had to do with him, lots of jogging, lots of galloping.”

LoPresti said that Dr. Larry Bramlage gave Wise Dan a clean bill of health after his breeze July 24. LoPresti said that he would have Bramlage look over Wise Dan again as the horse gets closer to his return to racing.