Wise Dan, defending Sprint champs ready for repeat bids

Morton Fink's

defending Mile champion and reigning Horse of the Year Wise Dan got a

big thumbs up Friday morning from trainer Charles LoPresti.

"Everything is as good as last year," LoPresti said. "He schooled in the

paddock yesterday afternoon and it may have been the best he has schooled. This

morning, he jogged and was really on his toes. He wanted to train and gallop."

Wise Dan stalked the pace last year en route to a

course-record performance and the shape of Saturday's race appears to offer a

similar scenario.

"(Trainer) Dale (Romans) has said he is going to the lead

with Silver Max and the trainer of Obviously (Mike Mitchell) said he's going,"

LoPresti said. "So, if everybody does what they say they are going to do, it

sets up real good unless everybody just decides to take back. I would not be

surprised to see a 44-second half."

Last year Wise Dan broke from post position 2. On

Saturday, he will leave from post eight in the 10-horse field.

"I would have preferred the 6," LoPresti said. "I would have been upset if

he had been all the way on the outside like he was at Keeneland (in the Shadwell

Mile). But you need to get a good break and a good trip."

Defending Filly & Mare Sprint champion Groupie Doll jogged around to the

finish line and then galloped a little more than one mile under regular exercise rider Jada

Schlenk.

"I am just trying to get all of the quality time I can get

with her," Schlenk said of Groupie Doll, who is scheduled to be sold next week

at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale.

Before setting off on her gallop, Groupie Doll was

stationed in front of the winner's circle with trainer and co-owner Buff Bradley

and groom Matt Hebert right behind her.

"I want to be here with her tomorrow," Bradley said. "I

would like to see her break well and maybe be six lengths off the lead on the

backside. Turning for home, I'd like to see her a length back and several in

front by the sixteenth-pole so I don't have to sweat."

Groupie Doll has three more rivals to contend with this

year as opposed to 2012.

"The field is a little deeper, but I am pretty confident,"

Bradley said. "All of these horses belong here and when you put up a million

dollars, you'd better be ready to run. Everything has to go your way, because a

lot of time, the best horse doesn't win."

Sherry Racing's Trinniberg galloped Saturday morning while readying for a title defense in

Saturday's Sprint.

"He is at his best. Everything is going well," trainer

Bisnath Parboo said. "He's as good as last year. I'm looking forward to this

race."

Trinniberg hasn't won in four starts during his 2013

campaign that started with an 11th-place finish in the Dubai Golden Shaheen last

March.

"In Dubai, he didn't like the Tapeta," Parboo said.

In his most recent start, the four-yearold son of Teuflesberg showed

only brief speed before fading to seventh in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship

on October 5.

"We just don't know what went wrong. He came back walking

good. Something wasn't right," Parboo said. "We're crossing it out."

The defending

Turf Sprint champion, Mizdirection galloped 1 1/2 miles Friday morning and all went

well according to Puype assistant Ral Ayres, who deputized while Puype was at

Hollywood Park overseeing activity there.

Mizdirection rallied from 11th place to first in the 2012

running of the race and a similar one would be fine, Ayers said, if it produced

the same result in 2013.

"Talking to Mike Smith, she just turned herself off after

the start and then turned it on last year," Ayers said. "She's drawn almost the

same and there's a lot of speed in the race. It's keep your fingers crossed and

all about getting out of the gate and getting lucky now. She couldn't be doing

any better."

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