Wise Dan nominated but unlikely for Woodbine Mile

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - Two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan has been nominated to run in this year's $1 million Woodbine Mile on Sunday, Sept. 14 at Woodbine Race Course. However, the 7-year-old gelding is unlikely to start after winning the last two renewals.

Wise Dan, winner of the last two Breeders' Cup Miles at Santa Anita, will start in this Saturday's $250,000 Bernard Baruch Stakes at Saratoga after missing time due to colic surgery.

Owned by Morton Fink and trained by Charlie LoPresti, the gelding had surgery on May 16 after winning his first two starts of the year.

"He is ready to run and he's very good right now," said LoPresti. "His last three works have indicated that, so we're very much leaning towards running him here (at Saratoga), and then we would go home and run him in the Shadwell Turf Mile (at Keeneland) and miss the Woodbine race.

"But if he has an easy race here (at Saratoga), there's a chance he could come back in two weeks (at Woodbine.) It's highly unlikely at this point, but you just don't ever know until we see the field and the horses and how hard he's going to have to run. That's going to really tell a story."

The champion won last year's Woodbine Mile by 3 1/2 lengths as the 1-4 favorite one year after claiming the stakes at odds of 1-2.

Among the other 21 nominated horses is last year's third-place finisher Trade Storm.

The Woodbine Mile is a Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" event, giving the winning horse a spot in the Breeders' Cup Mile in November at Santa Anita.