Wise Dan captures Woodford Reserve Turf

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Louisville, KY (Sports Network) - Reigning Horse of the Year Wise Dan, ridden by Jose Lezcano, thundered down the stretch to win Saturday's $500,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.

Trained by Charles Lopresti, Wise Dan went off as the 3-5 favorite in the seven-horse field. Point of Entry, the 7-5 morning-line favorite, was scratched along with Swift Warrior.

Wise Dan, owned by Morton Fink, allowed Silver Max to set the pace in the 1 1/8-mile grass race as the rain continued to fall. Racing in second was Optimizer with the favorite right behind in third.

The top three kept their positions up the backstretch and into the far turn. Coming out of the turn, Wise Dan was three wide as he took over the lead.

With 300 yards to run, Wise Dan drove clear of the competition and went on to register a 4 3/4-length victory over Optimizer.

Getting up for third was Middie followed by Silver Max, Bim Bam, Slim Shadey and Jeranimo.

The time for the Woodford Reserve Turf was 1:51.84 on a yielding grass course.

Wise Dan notched his second win of the year and his ninth in the last 10 starts. The win was worth $300,000 and moves the 6-year-old gelding to better than $4 million in earnings.

The champion horse won the Breeders' Cup Mile last year and captured the Maker's 46 Mile turf race at Keeneland to begin his 2013 campaign.

Wise Dan paid $3.20, $2.60 and $2.20. Optimizer returned $4.20 and $3.20, and Middie paid $5.80 to show.