Wise Dan
 

To quote Escalante:

"This horse is a running motherfu$%er."

that was scary.

Totally agree.

Where was that performance in this race last year when I was expecting/hoping for it?

His brother Successful Dan would have had a great look in the BC Classic. His win on Oaks day where he overpowered Fort Larned despite a slow pace and left Mucho Macho Man a distant 3rd was a heck of a race.

His only turf loss.
I remember it well, I was at the Wynn and decided to wager my weekend on him over Gio Ponti.
He never really ran a step that day but, was very impressive today.

Yep, I remember us talking about that race.

I buried a one-way exacta with him on top of the hanger extraordinaire Gio Ponti.

Mike Battaglia made Wise Dan 12/1 on the morning line in that race -- even though he had just run one of the greatest races ever at Presque Isle Downs -- winning the Presque Isle Mile against an inside biased track despite being marooned way out on the outside. Wise Dan also gave a huge chunk of weight away (the kind of weight swing that Summer Front and Dullahan had to give King David in the Jamaica Handicap today) in that PID Mile.

There was no one else to run late but professional 2nd place finisher Gio Ponti. It was like the scenario you dream up -- and Wise Dan never fired for whatever reason. He comes right back like two weeks later and kills them in the Fayette over the Poly and than KILLS them in the Clark over the dirt.

Imagine that: having a top-class horse in good form and running in a big race instead of taking 7 weeks off for the Cup. And he didn't shatter into a million pieces!

Wise Dan is something special. To be that good on three different surfaces is remarkable. He's the best American turf miler since Artie Schiller, yet he runs a 117 Beyer on Polytrack, plus wins the Clark (and should've won the Foster) on dirt. And he's a gelding. This is as good as we're going to get in this era, folks.

I think he is a better horse than Artie Shiller, and it might not be that close.

hes a poor mans john henry
but hes still racing so depending on his final resume we may be debating them