Wise Dan has final workout for Fourstardave

Saratoga Springs, NY (Sports Network) – Horse of the Year Wise Dan put in his last workout ahead of next Saturday’s $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap at Saratoga Race Course.

Trained by Charles LoPresti for owner Morton Fink, Wise Dan had a half-mile work over Saratoga’s main track. With his regular exercise rider Damien Rock, the 6-year-old gelding went the four furlongs in 49.59 seconds and galloped out five furlongs in 1:02.

“I just wanted to do something easy with him,” said LoPresti. “I wasn’t sure what I was going to do. I didn’t want to take him to the turf again. I just wanted a nice, easy work for him, just something to keep him ticking over to next week.”

The Fourstardave will be run at Wise Dan’s favorite distance, one-mile, over Saratoga’s turf course. The gelding won last year’s Fourstardave and has not lost since.

“He’s perfect,” LoPresti said. “He could have gone so much faster, but we didn’t want him to do that. He did that last week. That was the work that prepared him for this race. This was just something to tick him over.”

Wise Dan won the Firecracker Handicap at Churchill Downs on June 29. He began 2013 with wins in the Maker’s 46 Mile and Woodford Reserve Turf Classic. The winner of last year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile has posted 16 wins in 23 lifetime starts for $4,149,631.

Categorized in: Horses