The Pizza Man makes first start in four months in Wise Dan

Coming off a four-month layoff, Midwest Thoroughbreds Inc.’s The Pizza Man is back in action in Saturday night’s $200,000 Wise Dan (GII), run at a distance of 1 1/16 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course.

Last time out, the 7-year-old son of English Channel was fifth beaten 3 ¾ lengths in the Feb. 6 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (GI). Trainer Roger Brueggemann blamed the horse’s distaste for the Gulfstream turf for his performance.

“He really didn’t like the Gulfstream turf at all,” Brueggemann said. “That was the first time I had him on something that he didn’t like.”

Last year was The Pizza Man’s best campaign yet scoring a trio of graded stakes victories in Arlington Park’s Stars and Stripes (GIII) and Arlington Million XXXIII (GI) before rounding out his 6-year-old campaign with a win in the Hollywood Turf Cup (GII) at Del Mar.

“We’re hoping he can still compete as a year older but I know how I feel when I’m a year older,” Brueggemann said. “Hopefully he’ll be okay, so far he’s been training real well so we’ll have to see what happens.”

The Pizza Man boasts a 10-8-1-0 record at 1 1/16 miles, but has found some of his better success when running at longer distances.

“He can run long and short distances,” Brueggemann said. “He probably should have won the Shadwell Mile last year but that’s just my opinion. He can go any distance a mile and up. I think this race will be a nice little test for him. It looks like there’s going to be some nice horses in here.”

Should his performance on Saturday evening be a good one, Brueggemann would send the horse to Arlington once more for a defense of his Arlington Million title.

“That’s the plan but we might run him once before that so hopefully everything goes okay. A lot depends on how he’s doing,” Brueggemann said.

A possible start between the Wise Dan and the Arlington Million could come in either the $125,000 Arlington Handicap or the $100,000 Stars and Stripes, both Grade III events on the Arlington Park turf.

 

THATCHER STREET GOING FOR FOURTH VICTORY OVER CHURCHILL TURF IN WISE DAN

Randall Bloch, Phil Milner and John Seiler’s Thatcher Street, who boasts a 5-3-2-0 record on Churchill Downs’ Matt Winn Turf Course, will attempt to improve that record Saturday night in the $200,000 Wise Dan (Grade II) at 1 1/16 miles.

In his most recent effort, the 5-year-old son of Street Sense triumphed in the May 20 Opening Verse Overnight Stakes. His other two victories over the Churchill grass came when he broke his maiden on the 13th attempt, which he followed up with another win over the same surface against allowance company.

“The horse always gives you confidence and that’s the only thing I can control is my own horse,” trainer Ian Wilkes said. “He’s doing well, he’s training good and the water definitely gets deeper here. He’s consistent so that’s the main thing. He brings his A Game all the time but there’s no easy course. When you get to graded stakes they don’t hand them to you, the horse has to earn it. So we’ll see if he’s good enough.”

The Wise Dan field from the rail out (with jockeys and morning line odds): Thatcher Street (Hernandez Jr., 8-1); The Pizza Man (Florent Geroux, 6-5); Granny’s Kitten (Gary Stevens, 12-1); Flatlined (Miguel Mena, 15-1); Conquest Typhoon (Joe Bravo, 6-1); Potomac River (Juan Vargas, 15-1); R. Great Adventure (Joe Rocco Jr., 15-1); Pleuven (Fr) (Channing Hill, 8-1); Za Approval (Julien Leparoux, 12-1); Kasaqui (Arg) (Fernando De La Cruz, 12-1); and Behesht (Fr) (Corey Lanerie, 20-1).