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A player looking for reasons for go against Wise Dan in this Saturday's Fourstardave (post time: 5:45pm Eastern; TV: NBC) needs to look quite a ways back in the past performances to find anything less than a elite level performance from the reigning Horse of the Year. It's not just the fact that Wise Dan has won seven straight races, or that he's won all seven by at least a length. Wise Dan's consistency from race to race is what makes him far and away the best turf miler in North America.
Wise Dan's current seven race win streak began in last year's Fourstardave after a hear-breaking defeat by a head to Ron the Greek in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster on the Churchill Downs main track. Despite Wise Dan's abilities on dirt (he won the Grade 1 Clark over the Churchill main track in November of 2011), he's clearly at his best on the lawn where his high cruising speed and strong final kick simply devastates his rivals in the later stages of each and every race.
Last year, Wise Dan took the Fourstardave-Woodbine Mile-Shadwell Mile route in prepping for the Breeders' Cup Mile at Santa Anita. We'll see if the connections decide to follow that same path as they seem intent on keeping him away from his stablemate, Successful Dan.
Six rivals will join Wise Dan in the Fourstardave with perhaps G3-Poker winner King Kreesa the most intriguing of the bunch.
Below are the entries and post positions for the Fourstardave. Odds will be updated when released.
PP | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | ML |
1 | Wise Dan | J. Velazquez | C. LoPresti | |
2 | Skyring | J. Alvarado | D.W. Lukas | |
3 | Za Approval | J. Lezcano | C. Clement | |
4 | Mr. Commons | E. Prado | J. Shirreffs | |
5 | Willyconker (IRE) | J. Ortiz | E. Guillot | |
6 | King Kreesa | I. Ortiz, Jr. | J. Englehart | |
7 | Lea | J. Rosario | A. Stall, Jr. |