The first Woodbine Mile Stakes in the post-Wise Dan era was contested last weekend, and the result should have brought at least a small smile to the face of the glorious gelding.
Earlier this month, Wise Dan was retired at the advanced age of 8 due to a filling in one of his tendons, bringing down the curtain on a Hall of Fame career in which he won 23 of 31 starts, earned $7.5 million, was named Horse of the Year in 2012 and 2013 and won the Breeders' Cup Mile in both of those years.
He also won the Woodbine Mile in 2012 and 2013, and was training toward a start in the Sept. 12 race when word came that his career was over. His absence certainly cast a shadow over the $1 million race, which was won was by Mondialiste, an Irish-bred bay horse who last raced in Great Britain. That, of course, makes perfect sense since turf racing is king overseas and milers are revered there.
It was the runner-up, though, that resurrected memories of Wise Dan and illustrated the dramatic impact he had on the sport.
Lea, who lost by a half-length as the 2-1 favorite, is hardly a turf horse or a grass specialist. He had run on turf in the past, and was quite successful on it, running second and third in grass stakes to Wise Dan himself back in 2013.
Yet Lea, for the most part, headed into the race best known for being one of the top members of the older male division on dirt. Back in March, the 6-year-old horse -- no, he's not a gelding -- was third on dirt in the world's richest race, the $10 million Dubai Cup and then was second by a neck in the Grade 1 $500,000 Stephen Foster at Churchill Downs.
After a disappointing sixth-place finish in the $1.25 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga, it was not surprising that trainer Bill Mott opted for a million dollar turf race.
Nor is it shocking any more to see such a top quality dirt horse tackle a turf race at a mile or nine furlongs -- thanks to Wise Dan, who elevated the level of respect for American turf milers to unprecedented heights.
Given those circumstances, it made all the sense in the world that five of the first seven winners of the BC Mile had either last raced in Europe or had roots to overseas.
Lure helped change the mind set when he won back-to-back editions of the BC Mile for Claiborne Farm and trainer Shug McGaughey -- as All-American of a combo as you'll find -- in 1992 and 1993. Yet even though Lure was a future Hall of Famer, he was unable to capture an Eclipse Award as the champion turf horse in either year. In 1993, for instance, Lure won six of eight starts -- all on the turf -- but his lone Grade 1 start was the BC Mile. That same year, Kotashaan, a turf horse, was voted Horse of the Year with a slate of seven wins in 10 starts, yet five of them were Grade 1's, including the mile and a half Breeders' Cup Turf.
A Breeders' Cup Mile winner had never been named Horse of the Year until Wise Dan pulled off the double in 2012. Finishing a strong second in the Grade 1 Foster on dirt helped his cause when he was first selected as HOY, but his seven 2013 starts were all on either turf or a synthetic surface.
In showing how the racing world has changed since 1993, Wise Dan raced in five Grade 1 stakes that year -- all of them scheduled for either a mile or a mile and an eighth. Another telling sign of how turf milers now rate in the United States, the centerpiece of a Saturday card at historic Saratoga is now a mile turf race named the Fourstardave -- which, to repeat an oft-used phrase, Wise Dan won in 2012 and 2013.
In his career, Wise Dan surely provided racing with a slew of exciting moments and rightfully attracted a legion of loyal fans.
The memories of those victories will not be soon forgotten.
Nor will his legacy fade away quickly.
Not this year, but at some point in the future, another American turf miler just might be named Horse of the Year. If it happens, he'll have Wise Dan to thank.