Wise Dan

Wise Dan (foaled February 20, 2007) is a champion American Hall of Fame and Canadian Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse. He is the first horse to win the same three Eclipse Awards in consecutive years, having been named American Horse of the Year, Champion Older Male and Champion Male Turf Horse in 2012 and 2013.

In a racing career which began in 2010, he has won nineteen Graded stakes races, including victories on turf, dirt, and two types of synthetic surface. Unraced as a two-year-old, Wise Dan won the Phoenix Stakes in 2010 but was well beaten when taking on top-class opposition in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. In the latter half of 2011, he won twice at Grade II level before winning the Grade I Clark Handicap in November. In 2012, Wise Dan won five more races, including Woodbine Mile, Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes, and Breeders' Cup Mile. By autumn, he was the most highly rated active racehorse in North America. In 2013, Wise Dan won six of his seven races, repeating his wins in the Woodbine Mile and the Breeders' Cup Mile as well as taking the Maker's Mark Mile Stakes and the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic. After two wins in early 2014, he underwent surgery for colic in mid-May and was out for over two months for recovery. Returning to racing with a victory in the Grade II Bernard Baruch Handicap, he also won the Shadwell Turf Mile for a second time, after which he developed an ankle injury that sidelined him until the following year. Although he went back into training and was preparing for another run in the 2015 Woodbine Mile, he developed a tendon injury unrelated to the fracture suffered in 2014 and was retired on September 7, 2015.

Wise Dan is a chestnut gelding with a narrow white blaze, bred in Kentucky by his owner Morton Fink, a Chicago-born businessman. He is the most successful racehorse to date sired by Wiseman's Ferry, whose biggest win came in the 2002 West Virginia Derby. Wise Dan's dam, Lisa Danielle, a daughter of the South African champion Wolf Power, was named after Fink's granddaughter. Apart from Wise Dan, she has produced Alysheba Stakes winner Successful Dan. Wise Dan has been trained throughout his racing career by Charles Lopresti.

Wise Dan began his racing career on the polytrack surface at Turfway Park in early 2010. After finishing fifth in his debut, he won a six-furlong maiden race by fifteen lengths. In May, he moved to Churchill Downs, where he won an allowance race on the undercard of Super Saver's win in the Kentucky Derby. After a break of five months, Wise Dan returned at Keeneland Race Course in October to win the Grade III Phoenix Stakes, beating the four-year-old Hollywood Hit by half a length. In his final appearance as a three-year-old, he stepped up markedly in class to contest the Breeders' Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs on 6 November. Starting at odds of 8/1, he reached third place in the straight before finishing sixth of the twelve runners behind Big Drama.

Wise Dan's four-year-old campaign began with three losing efforts. He finished fourth when favorite for the Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland, and when moved up in distance to nine furlongs he finished eighth of the nine runners behind First Dude in the Alysheba Stakes. After Wise Dan's unplaced effort on dirt at Churchill Downs in June, Lopresti tried him on the same venue's turf course. After working well on the surface, Wise Dan was entered in the Grade II Firecracker Handicap over one mile on July 4 and won by two and three quarter lengths.

After a break of two months, he reappeared at Presque Isle Downs in September. Racing on Tapeta Footings, he carried top weight of 124 pounds to victory in the Presque Isle Mile Stakes. In October, Wise Dan returned to Grade I class for the first time since the Breeders' Cup when he ran in the Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes at Keeneland and finished fourth to Gio Ponti. Three weeks later, he captured his third graded stakes race when he won the Fayette Stakes on Keeneland's polytrack, beating Ioya Bigtime by four lengths. In his final start of 2011, he returned to Grade I company for the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs. Racing over nine furlongs on dirt, he took the lead in the straight and drew away to win by nearly four lengths from a field which included Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Flat Out and Belmont Stakes winner Ruler on Ice. The Clark was the first occasion on which Wise Dan was ridden by John R. Velazquez, who then became the regular rider of the gelding in most races thereafter.

In the 2011 World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings, Wise Dan was given a rating of 121, placing him in equal 38th place. Only five horses trained in the United States were rated more highly.

In his first race of 2012, Wise Dan returned to the polytrack at Keeneland for the Grade III Ben Ali Stakes on April 22. Carrying top weight of 123 pounds, he won by ten and a half lengths from Big Blue Kitten in a track record time of 1:46.63. After the race, Velazquez claimed that his only difficulty came when trying to pull up the horse after the finish. In June, Wise Dan started odds-on favorite for the Grade I Stephen Foster Handicap, run over the same course and distance as the Clark. In a rough finish, he overtook leader Nate's Mineshaft in the closing stages but was caught on the post and beaten a head by Ron the Greek. According to Charles Lopresti, Velazquez said he had been focusing his attention on Nate's Mineshaft and "never saw that horse (Ron the Greek) coming". The unplaced horses in the Stephen Foster included Fort Larned, who subsequently won the important Whitney Handicap at Saratoga and the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita in November.