Wise Dan lights up rain-soaked Firecracker

Seruni wouldn't give an inch, though, keeping Wise Dan in tight on the inside

and practically running through the hedge, until he finally managed to clear

that rival and pull away to finish the one-mile contest in 1:39 4/5.

Wise Dan paid $2.40 and $2.10 after show wagering was canceled as the 1-5

prohibitive favorite. Lea overtook Seruni late for runner-up honors, while Daddy

Nose Best and Ol Army completed the order under the wire. Corporate Jungle,

Dimension and Finnegans Wake were all withdrawn.

Unraced as a juvenile, Wise Dan showed ability when winning four of six starts

at three. During that 2010 campaign, he captured his stakes debut in the Phoenix

Stakes at Keeneland and finished a creditable sixth, beaten just 2 1/2 lengths,

in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

Wise Dan proved a triple-surface threat in 2011,

winning the Firecracker in his turf debut, and adding the Presque Isle Mile on

Tapeta, before romping in the Fayette over Keeneland's Polytrack and the Clark

Handicap on the Churchill Downs dirt.

The chestnut gelding kicked off his 2012 season at Keeneland with a

scintillating 10 1/2-length conquest of the Ben Ali in a track-record time of

1:46.63 on the Polytrack. Wise Dan returned to Churchill for the Stephen Foster

Handicap, only to lose by a head after a tough trip. That is his only loss in

his past 11 races.

Wise Dan reverted to turf for the Fourstardave Handicap last August at

Saratoga, where he posted a five-length demolition job, and came back a month

later to dominate the Woodbine Mile by 3 1/4 lengths. Wise Dan used the Shadwell

Turf Mile in October at Keeneland as a virtual paid workout, with a 2 1/4-length

jaunt that set him up perfectly for the November 3 Breeders' Cup Mile. In that

championship-clinching victory at Santa Anita, he scorched in a course and

stakes-record time of 1:31.78.

By taking home Eclipse Awards as Horse of the Year, champion older male and

champion turf male, Wise Dan joined the legendary John Henry as the only two to

sweep those three honors in the Eclipse era.

Now six-years old, Wise Dan figures to have much more time to polish his

resume. He made a triumphant return in the April 12 Maker's 46 Mile at Keeneland

and posted a 4 3/4-length score over yet another yielding turf at Churchill

Downs in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic last out on the Kentucky Derby

undercard.

The Kentucky-bred is by Wiseman's Ferry and out of the winning Wolf Power

mare Lisa Danielle. He is a half-brother to multiple Grade 2 victor Successful

Dan, who set a new Churchill track record when taking the Alysheba last May.

Successful Dan recently returned from an injury-induced layoff to wire this

year's Ben Ali on April 21, making it back-to-back wins in that race for the two

"Dans."

Another half-sibling to the "Dans," stakes winner Our Royal Dancer, is

herself the dam of Argentinean Group 2-placed Bailando Voy. Lisa Danielle is in

turn a half-sister to Grade 1-placed Carsona, who has produced Grade 2 victor

Siphon City. This is the family of German Group 1-winning highweight Scalo, and

further back, French champion, classic winner and noted sire *Val de Loir as

well as dual classic heroine and Irish champion *Valoris II.

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