Wise Dan tours Saratoga's Oklahoma turf

If trainer Charlie LoPresti had

any trepidation about sending two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan to Saratoga's Oklahoma turf course to work Friday morning, he didn't show it. In the

seven-year-old star's second timed work since undergoing colic surgery May 16, he

looked dynamic and eager,

breezing a half-mile in

:49 inside the dogs

under regular exercise rider Damien Rock, galloping out in 1:02 1/5.

Wise Dan, undefeated in two Grade 1 contests this year before

being sidelined, looked like he would have been delighted to go around the

course again.

"That's a good sign," LoPresti said after giving Wise Dan a

bath back at the barn. "I couldn't be happier with that work. When we got him

going to the turf this morning, just walking down the road, Rock said you could

feel him start lengthening his stride. He knew he was going to work today. He

jogged onto the turf course. He was so happy to go on there."

Sailing along after victories in the April 11 Maker's 46

Mile at Keeneland and May 3 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic at Churchill Downs, Wise Dan came down with what is called a nephrosplenic

entrapment, when the colon becomes stuck on a ligament between the left kidney

and spleen.

The horse was taken to Rood and Riddle Equine

Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky. When Wise Dan underwent surgery, Dr. Scott Hopper

found that the misplacement had corrected itself.

"As far as colic surgery goes, it was a best-case

scenario," LoPresti noted. "It was almost like exploratory surgery. So, the only

thing we were dealing with was an incision to heal.

"He's such a strong horse, in

3 1/2 weeks, I can tell you, if you saw the video footage of him four days later

when he came home, he jumped off the trailer at my house. In 2 1/2 weeks, he was

dragging me around out in the paddock when I was grazing him. He's just an

amazing horse."

Wise Dan had his first work following surgery on July 11,

traveling four furlongs in :50 2/5 on Keeneland's turf.

LoPresti is unsure whether Wise Dan will race at Saratoga.

The trainer is looking at a pair of turf races, the Grade 2, $500,000 Fourstardave Handicap on August 9

and the

Grade 2, $250,000 Bernard Baruch Handicap on August 30, with a very slight chance

Wise Dan might go in the Grade 1, $600,000

Woodward on dirt the same day as the Bernard Baruch.

"I just don't want to do the wrong thing with him,"

LoPresti said. "I want to do right by him. Even though he's a super horse, you

want to make sure you put him in a race that I feel like he's good enough to

win.

"I really want to run him here only because people have

been so nice to me and I like it here. I brought him with the intention of

training to run, and I would like to see him run, but I won't do anything to

jeopardize the horse. I know everybody would like to see him run."

Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com