Wise Dan's highlight reel

The title is a misnomer, since the future Hall of Famer deserves a much more thorough video tribute that we can provide here. So here's my personal list of Wise Dan's top six performances.

6. The Bernard Baruch (G2) on August 30, 2014. From my perspective, this warrants inclusion because of the circumstances of his victory -- his first start back from the emergency colic surgery he'd undergone about 3 1/2 months earlier. And he was toting the top weight of 127 pounds, spotting anywhere from eight to 13 pounds to his rivals. Wise Dan had an operation on his gut, but he was never lacking in them, as this near course-record effort attests:

 

5. The Firecracker (G2) on June 29, 2013. Wise Dan's scraping through the hedge under 128 pounds, in a driving Kentucky rain, instantly entered Churchill Downs lore: