Wise Dan on the turf was like Fred Astaire on the dance floor. They were so comfortable, so regnant and so supreme that almost nothing could disturb their mastery.
But Wise Dan, the reigning two-time Horse of the Year, won't race on the turf again this season, and his racing future, it would seem, because of a non-displaced fracture at the bottom of the cannon bone in his right foreleg, is at best precarious. That means, of course, that he will not be able to race Nov. 1 in the Breeders' Cup Mile, a race he has won each of the last two years. His owner, Morton Fink, made the announcement Monday.
With his winning aplomb, Wise Dan has been one of the sport's most popular stars, so popular that he recently became the focus of an advertising campaign that mimics a series of beer commercials: "He once finished eighth just to see how it feels. He is the most interesting horse in the world. He does not always run races, but when he does he prefers to win."
What place, though, does the "most interesting horse in the world" have in history? Some might hesitate to discuss him in terms of greatness since he excelled at a mile on the turf and nothing else he did really compared to his virtuosity in that arena. But greatness doesn't require authentication or explanation. Greatness defines itself in its own terms: It comes in many sizes and shapes, and it can don many costumes. From here, Wise Dan looks like one of the great turf horses in the history of American racing, and his injury significantly diminishes the Breeders' Cup.
In a statement released by the Breeders' Cup, Fink explained that Wise Dan's trainer, Charlie LoPresti, noticed some mild swelling in the right front ankle. X-rays revealed a fracture in the shape of a half-moon. The injury probably occurred, Fink said, during the 7-year-old gelding's recent victory in the Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland.
"We won't decide if he will return to training until we see if he heals perfectly because he has nothing left to prove," Fink said. "This is not a fracture that can be helped with surgery; he has to heal it on his own."
Having successfully returned from colic surgery in May, Wise Dan would have been an overwhelming favorite to win the Mile for the third consecutive year. When he won the race in 2012, he was the 9-5 favorite. Last year, Santa Anita oddsmaker Jon White made Wise Dan the even-money favorite in the morning line, and the champion went off at odds of 4-5.
"I'd say there is a pretty good chance I would have him either 6-5 or even-money this year [in the morning line]," White said. "I don't think I would have gone as low as 4-5, and there was virtually no chance I would have gone to 7-5 or higher."
Wise Dan defined his greatness in terms of consistency, longevity and brilliance. It seems ironic now, though, that when he was named Horse of the Year in 2012, it was largely because of his admirable versatility. He gave performances that were among the very best on three surfaces -- grass, dirt and Polytrack. But since the summer of 2012, he has been entered exclusively in turf races (his only loss in his last 15 starts being in a race that was moved off the turf).
A year ago, I argued -- and rightly, I still believe -- that Wise Dan shouldn't be Horse of the Year. It was an argument based on historical precedent, which provides the only criteria available for determining the championships, and it was easily summarized: There was no precedent for a turf miler's being Horse of the Year. And yet I would not have argued that Wise Dan should race anywhere but on the turf, preferably at a mile, for that's where he was in the process of defining his greatness. That definition, even it not complete, is now sufficient.
Wise Dan has won at least one stakes race for five years, starting with the Phoenix at Keeneland in 2010. But even with his accomplishments piled high, this remains most important and impressive, astonishing even: He has won 14 consecutive turf races. I haven't found another major stakes winner in North America with a record that's comparable. It's the nature of turf racing, especially with the shorter stretch-runs in this country, that outcomes are tight; horses typically don't separate themselves as they can on dirt. For that reason, perhaps, even the best of horses usually don't line up turf victories as if they're trophies on a shelf.
A year ago, I argued -- and rightly, I still believe -- that Wise Dan shouldn't be Horse of the Year. It was an argument based on historical precedent, which provides the only criteria available for determining the championships, and it was easily summarized: There was no precedent for a turf miler's being Horse of the Year.
Quija Board, for example, who won the Filly & Mare Turf in 2004 and again in 2006, never won more than three consecutive races. Goldikova, the great three-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Mile, twice won four straight, and Kotashaan won four consecutive turf races in 1993, when he was Horse of the Year. But few have strung together more than four while racing in top company.
Miesque won five straight stakes, all in France, before losing at Ascot and then coming here to win the 1987 Mile. The great mare won it again the following year. Paradise Creek won six consecutive turf stakes on his way to a title in 1994. High Chaparral, an underrated but sensational champion, won six consecutive stakes before finishing third in the Arc de Triomphe; he then traveled here to win the 2002 Breeders' Cup Turf at Arlington Park. He won the race again the following year, at Santa Anita.
John Henry, who ranks indisputably among the greatest of American horses, won seven consecutive turf stakes in 1980-1981, with three starts on dirt, including wins in the Santa Anita Handicap and the Jockey Club Gold Cup, along the way. Round Table, another of the all-time greats, raced 50 times on dirt, winning many of the most prestigious races of his time, but he performed with equally dazzling greatness on turf. From August of 1957 to September of 1958, while also starting 18 times on dirt, he won eight consecutive turf races. In the 1950s, keep in mind, turf racing wasn't nearly so popular or pervasive as it has become. His string of green victories ended in the United Nations Handicap at Atlantic City, where he carried 130 pounds, 17 more than the horse that defeated him by a half-length, Clem. Round Table won 14 of 16 on the turf in his career, his only other loss resulting from an injury. And Manila, an extraordinarily handsome horse and a truly great competitor that seems largely forgotten these days, won nine consecutive turf races, from April of 1986 to July of 1987, including the United Nations, the Turf Classic and the Breeders' Cup Turf.
And then there's Wise Dan, with his 14 consecutive turf victories. He has won 23 of 31 in his career, but on grass, where he has written large the definition of his greatness, he has won 15 of 16. In this modern era, I can think of only two other champions (with a thanks to commentator Joel Firsching for a reminder regarding one of them) that won so consistently and consecutively while racing in top company on the turf: Frankel and Black Caviar. Frankel raced in England from 2010 to 2012, and when he retired, with an accompaniment of universal adulation, fans and pundits alike ranked him among the greatest of all time. Frankel won 14 races without a defeat, with an average winning margin of 5.38 lengths. The great Austrailian mare Black Caviar won an incredible 25 consecutive races, from 2008 to 2013, including 15 Group I events. Her streak also included a sojourn to Ascot in 2012 for the Diamond Jubilee. Four times she was named the world champion sprinter.
As his owner rightly pointed out, Wise Dan has nothing more to prove. Even if he never races again -- and given his tenacity, a return wouldn't be a surprise -- the "most interesting horse in the world" has defined himself as one of the greatest in the history of American racing.