Wise Dan makes it eight straight with impressive Fourstardave repeat

Wise Dan makes it eight straight with impressive

Fourstardave repeat

Wise Dan broke from the rail in the six-horse field and stalked within a few

lengths along the inside in third as King Kreesa showed the way on a

clear lead, establishing splits in :24 1/5 and :47 2/5. The Mort Fink homebred

edged closer rounding the far turn and angled out to the two path entering the

stretch drive.

King Kreesa passed the three-quarters point in 1:10 2/5 with a 1 1/2-length

advantage, but Wise Dan went after the pacesetter in earnest after turning for

home. The runner-up prove ultra-game, digging in determinedly as Wise Dan ranged

up alongside with a furlong remaining, but he ultimately proved no match for the

long-striding winner. Wise Dan powered by in the final sixteenth of a mile to

post another popular victory, scoring as the 2-5 favorite.

"Perfect trip. Broke well, was in the right place following the speed in the

race. After that, it was pretty easy," regular rider Velazquez said. "I knew the

horse on the lead was going to take me a long way. It ended up being a nice race

down the lane with the horse on the lead. I was right where I wanted to be, not

too far back.

"I knew at the time I pulled out it was going to be a fight down the lane and

I know my horse is a fighter. It was awesome. It was a much tougher race than

last year. The horse who was second was peaking at the right time. But my horse

still did it, and with a lot of weight on top of him, too."

King Kreesa, who entered the Fourstardave off a sharp 1 1/2-length,

wire-to-wire score in the July 4 Poker Handicap at Belmont Park, easily held

second by about a five-length margin. He carried 12 pounds less than the winner.

"I knew (King Kreesa) was going to keep digging," trainer Jeremiah Englehart

said of runner-up. "With 129 pounds, (Wise Dan) still had the heart to run him

down. It takes a real nice horse, and he is a champion."

"I had a lot of horse at the quarter pole, and I thought I could win the

race, but Wise Dan is a great horse," added Irad Ortiz Jr, rider of King Kreesa.

"I knew he was going to come. I just waited and let my horse pick it up. My

horse tried hard."

Lea finished well back in third and was followed under the wire by Mr.

Commons, Willyconker and Skyring. Za Approval was scratched.

Wise Dan has now compiled 17 wins from 24 career starts. With the $300,000

winner's share, he increased his earnings to $4,464,070.

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.

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.

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 2012 Alysheba and

recorded a fast-closing second in the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga last Saturday.

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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