Wise Dan

[Calzone Lord]

Interesting CJ.

Dick Jerardi wrote a column about the figure:

http://www.drf.com/news/jerardi-noth...r-speed-figure

Wise Dan ran an absolutely terrible race off of the layoff last year (over the poly at KEE) and gradually turned it around nicely. He won the Presque Isle Mile from the 9-hole with a wide trip against a rail bias and ran a very strong 98 figure. It was the most impressive performance all year at this meet. Wise Dan ended the year with smashing wins on dirt and poly.

I like Wise Dan a lot and he's certainly not one of these horses who has a history of running big races off of layoffs and backing up.

However, I think Jerardi missed two important points in his column. The speed biased track -- and the fact that races were badly fracturing all day long on the poly. Even if you have 100% faith in the fact he ran a 117 - the conditions of the track that day really propelled him...and every other first call leader on Poly.