Wise Dan Wins WB Mile!

Excaper in search of first stakes win in Woodbine Mile

Brisnet

Excaper, who finished second in both the Summer Stakes and Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf as a two-year-old, will look to make the grade in Sunday's Grade 1, $1 million Woodbine Mile.

Despite having banked just shy of $500,000 though 13 career starts, the multiple stakes-placed colt is still seeking his first added-money score. The now four-year-old son of Exchange Rate enjoyed a solid sophomore campaign finishing fifth, defeated less than two lengths in the Saranac at Saratoga, as well as a strong second in the Kent at Delaware Park.

Trainer Ian Black is still incredulous that the talented gray has yet to win a stake, while recalling Excaper's gutsy second-place run in the Breeders' Cup.


"If someone had told me that day, that 20 months later this horse would still have not won a stake, I'd have been very surprised," Black said. "He's been stakes-placed so many times. Last year we raced in the Kent and we ran into Optimizer that day who broke the track record. Unbridled Command won the Saranac and he's a good horse. As well, the horse who ran second to Wise Dan in the Fourstardave, King Kreesa, was a head in front of us in the Saranac.

"He's (Excaper) running in good company and I always feel he's just a couple lengths off of really doing it. I'm not sure if we've just been unlucky, but he's as good now as he's ever been."

On Monday, Excaper breezed four furlongs in :50 2/5 over the Woodbine turf with jockey Luis Contreras up.

"I was really impressed with the work," Black said. "The dogs were way out so he didn't go that fast, but he did exactly what I wanted him to do, which just pick it up from the five-eighths pole and go a half-mile and let him gallop on out. He was really strong finishing up. I thought it was a good work."

Last time out, Excaper finished second to Woodbine Mile rival Dimension in the Play the King Stakes -- a race where Black expected his colt would dictate the pace. Instead, Dimension, normally a stalking type, took the lead and set a blistering pace en route to a 2 1/4-length score.

"I was really surprised (to find Dimension on the lead)," Black said. "It looked like the speed was outside us and we'd be on the lead getting pressured and it turned out the two horses to our inside (Dimension and Danger Bay) broke running. We were sitting off of them turning for home and we did lose a little ground. I thought he'd win that day, but the winner ran a huge race."

Black knows that his hard-trying colt has found yet another monster to battle in the shape of Horse of the Year Wise Dan. Drawing up a game plan to face the champion chestnut is no easy task.

"Wise Dan is never far out of it, he doesn't need the lead and will probably be in a stalking position," Black said. "He's shown such versatility. I know they get a lot of pressure to run him on the dirt again, but he's made over $4 million doing what he's doing and he's already won on three surfaces in good company. You look at a horse with form like his and it's hard to know how you go about beating him."

Still, Black, who bucked the odds to defeat Ventura and Kip Deville in the 2008 edition of the Woodbine Mile with Rahy's Attorney, believes his horse will put up a good fight.

"Winning the Mile with (Rahy's Attorney), beating two very good horses doing it, is a big part of what I've done here as a trainer," Black noted. "Winning the Plate is what everyone wants to do and we were lucky enough to do it (in 2007 with Mike Fox), but winning an open Grade 1 was a very big deal."

Could a mile on the turf be Excaper's best lick?

"I hope it is," Black said. "I would say the mile really suits him."


A stakes win has so far eluded the competitive Excaper
(Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com)

He will be horse of the year and you will like it.

Wise Dan installed as 2-5 favorite in Woodbine Mile

U.S. Horse of the Year Wise Dan rates as the 2-5 morning-line favorite to make history in Sunday's Grade 1 Woodbine Mile, where he will seek to become the first repeat winner, and give trainer Charles LoPresti an unprecedented third straight victory in the C$1 million affair. Only five horses have signed on to challenge the defending champion -- English shipper Trade Storm, Za Approval, Dimension, Excaper and Riding the River.
Wise Dan turned in a tour de force in the 2012 Woodbine Mile, romping by 3 1/4 lengths, and he hasn't lost since. The Morton Fink homebred capped his championship campaign in the Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland and the Breeders' Cup Mile in record time at Santa Anita.

Unbeatable through four starts this campaign, Wise Dan reappeared in the April 12 Maker's 46 Mile back at Keeneland and then crushed the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on Kentucky Derby Day. Even imposts of 128 pounds in the June 29 Firecracker Handicap at Churchill and 129 pounds in the August 10 Fourstardave couldn't derail the chestnut gelding, who now brandishes an eight-race winning streak.

Wise Dan will tote the top weight of 124 pounds on Sunday, including regular rider John Velazquez. He is drawn in post 4 in this "Win & You're In" event for the Breeders' Cup Mile, which is once again his main objective.

LoPresti, who scored his first Woodbine Mile win with Turallure in 2011, is in line for an historic third consecutive win here. Hall of Famers Neil Drysdale and the late Bobby Frankel are the only other trainers to have three career Woodbine Mile wins, but their trios did not come in a row.


Trade Storm is a cut below the best European milers, but the closer excelled at Meydan earlier this season, and could find Woodbine congenial. Formerly just a handicapper, the David Simcock charge burst onto the international scene at the Dubai World Cup Carnival with a pair of devastating successes. After blowing away handicap foes on February 14, he disposed of a more accomplished field, including Musir, in the March 2 Zabeel Mile. Trade Storm then showed that he could hold his own at the Group 1 level when fourth in the March 30 Dubai Duty Free. The runner-up in the Duty Free, The Apache, was recently first past the post in the Arlington Million, only to be demoted to second for interference.

Although winless since returning to England, Trade Storm has been mixing it up in elite company. He was fifth, beaten a little more than three lengths by Declaration of War, in the June 18 Queen Anne at Royal Ascot; a close fourth in the July 13 Summer Mile back at Ascot; fourth in the July 31 Sussex at Glorious Goodwood on unsuitably soft ground to all-stars Toronado, Dawn Approach and Declaration of War; and most recently third to Afsare (last year's Arlington Million runner-up) in the August 24 Celebration Mile at Goodwood.

Hall of Famer Gary Stevens picks up the mount on Trade Storm, an 8-1 chance on the morning line.

Za Approval, another who prefers quicker conditions, was rerouted here after being scratched from the August 31 Bernard Baruch at a soggy Saratoga. A half-brother to 2006 Breeders' Cup Mile upsetter and champion turf horse Miesque's Approval, he has been in the form of his life this year for Christophe Clement. The Live Oak Plantation homebred captured the March 30 Appleton at Gulfstream and the May 18 Red Bank at Monmouth, and finished second to front-running Obviously in the June 29 Shoemaker Mile at Hollywood in his latest venture. Za Approval has been pegged as the 4-1 second choice with new rider Garrett Gomez.

The remaining three entrants served up the trifecta in the local prep, the seven-furlong Play the King on August 25 -- Dimension, Excaper and Riding the River.

British-bred Dimension was a blistering winner in wire-to-wire fashion in a final time of 1:19.89, just off the course mark of 1:19.38 set by Soaring Free in 2004. Soaring Free was also the last Play the King hero to double up in the Woodbine Mile, and Dimension seeks to follow in his hoofsteps. Should he spring the upset, Dimension would continue the storybook success of his trainer and co-owner Conor Murphy, who won £1 million in an astute wager and subsequently established his own partnership. David Moran will try to engineer a similar trip.

Excaper chased Dimension throughout before settling for second in the Play the King, crossing the wire 2 1/4 lengths behind the convincing winner. Two starts back in his four-year-old debut, Excaper rolled to a front-running score over the same course and distance in a sprightly 1:19.91. The Ian Black trainee has back class as the runner-up in the 2011 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, but is still looking for his first stakes win.

Reigning Canadian champion turf male Riding the River will be making his third straight appearance in the Woodbine Mile, having finished fifth to Turallure in 2011 and fourth to Wise Dan last year. Riding the River is taking the same path as in 2012. The David Cotey charge scored a repeat victory in the June 23 King Edward, but his title defense in the July 22 Nijinsky didn't pan out as well, and he checked in a troubled seventh. Riding the River got back on track with a late-running third in the Play the King, and hopes that the third time's the proverbial charm in the Woodbine Mile. By Wiseman's Ferry, like Wise Dan, he gives their sire a chance at the exacta.

Brisnet

PP's atachment very slow to load. Try this link:
www1.drf.com/formulator-web/FreeRace.do?trackId=WO&country=CAN&raceDate=20130915&dayEvening=D&raceNumber=10#past-performance-race/10

I mentioned him once, and what I said is true. you can root for whomever you like, im just saying why I wont be.

He's now won over five million dollars (more US, since the ecxchange rate has flipped), running the mile in the course record of 1.31.75 effortlessly. He wasn't even breathing heavy jogging back to the winners circle.

Wise Dan Makes Woodbine Mile History in Romp
By Jack Shinar
Bloodhorse


Photo: Michael Burns Photography
Wise Dan wins the Woodbine Mile.

Wise Dan became the first two-time winner of the Ricoh Woodbine Mile (Can-IT) when he romped to victory Sept. 15 in track-record time over the Toronto track's turf course as the shortest-priced favorite in the race's 17 renewals.

With jockey John Velazquez aboard, the defending United States Horse of the Year won his ninth consecutive race for owner/breeder Morton Fink and trainer Charles LoPresti, who won the Woodbine Mile for the third straight year.

It was the fourth win in the the race for Velazquez, most of any rider, while LoPresti tied Hall of Famers Bobby Frankel and Neil Drysdale for most training victories.

Wise Dan, who surpassed $5 million in career earnings with his 18th lifetime win in 25 starts, was timed in 1:31.75 over firm turf. It eclipsed the mark of Royal Regalia, who turned in a 1:31.84 clocking on July 1, 2004.

"He's a dream come true," LoPresti told TVG afterward. "He makes us very proud. What a wonderful horse!"

The Woodbine Mile victory guaranteed Wise Dan a return start in the Breeders' Cup Mile (gr. IT) Nov. 2 at Santa Anita Park as part of the "Win & You're In' challenge series.

Za Approval finished second, with British invader Trade Storm third in the field of six, which was the smallest in the race's history.