Bellwether Magazine

Volume 1 Number 54 Fall 2002 Article 11

Fall 2002

Magic at Pimlico!

Joan Capuzzi Giresi University of Pennsylvania

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Recommended Citation Capuzzi Giresi, Joan (2002) "Magic at Pimlico!," Bellwether Magazine: Vol. 1 : No. 54 , Article 11. Available at: https://repository.upenn.edu/bellwether/vol1/iss54/11

This paper is posted at ScholarlyCommons. https://repository.upenn.edu/bellwether/vol1/iss54/11 For more information, please contact [email protected]. V.M.D..M.D.Notes NOTES V.M.D. V.M.D.Notes NOTES V.M.D. V.M.D.Notes NOTES V.M.D. NOTES V.M.D.Notes V.M.D. NOTES V.M.D.Notes V.M.D. NOTES Magic at Pimlico! by Joan Capuzzi Giresi,C’86 V’98 alerted him to the up-and-comer last winter. “You pulled into someone’s driveway and you If he were a betting man, Allen B. Wisner, “It’s been exciting to have a horse with these did anything from cutting a few calves or pigs V’65, probably wouldn’t have taken the odds accomplishments named after me,”Wisner, 62, to looking at the pet dog. And then the woman on the anonymous little colt that came into his says of the tribute. of the house offered you a hot apple pie to take clinic three years ago with a bum leg. The distinction has also earned Wisner home.” But Magic Weisner – whose owner, Nancy attention in the national and international Three years into mixed practice, Wisner Alberts, named him after Wisner as a tribute to press. Dean Alan M. Kelly recognized the acco- decided to limit his work to equine medicine. the doctor’s good medical care – healed up well lade in a recent letter to Wisner: “Nancy “When you grow up around horses,” he and went on to success in two Triple Crown Alberts' choice to name Magic Weisner after explains, “they get into your system.” races. you is a wonderful gesture of her gratitude for In 1968, Wisner opened Green Glen Equine The five-month-old colt, housed at a local the care you provided him. We are proud of Center in Glen Rock, Pa., just north of the farm in rural Maryland, presented to Wisner your honor and the recognition it will bring to Maryland-Pennsylvania border. His practice, with acute lameness secondary to a septic fet- the vital role veterinarians have in improving which now includes an office, a surgical facility lock joint. Wisner remem- the health and welfare of and two treatment barns, is situated on the 75- bers him as being “a pleas- horses." acre property where he lives with his wife ant youngster to be Born and raised in the Carolyn, who runs the office. around,” in contrast to deep horse country of Engaged in track work initially, Wisner was most unweaned, Chestnut Ridge, Maryland, a sole practitioner for nearly two decades. unschooled – and generally some 25 miles north of Today, his casework consists mainly of farm fractious – foals. Baltimore, Wisner – whose horses, breeding and lameness exams. He Beyond this fleeting father was a jockey and a employs three other veterinarians, including comparison, Wisner recalls his son, Wade, V’92. little else of the bay: “He While all three of Wis- was just a plain brown ner’s sons pursued science wrapper.” careers, Wade is the only one Wisner irrigated the Allen B.Wisner,V’65 to have followed in his dad’s colt’s joint and maintained veterinary footsteps. “Proba- him on intravenous antibiotics for three days trainer – spent bly one of the best days in at his clinic before sending him home on intra- his nascent days my life is when I found out I muscular antibiotics. Although the colt at the track. His was going to be able to give responded well, Wisner recalls, “I told (Alberts) happiest memo- Wade his vet school diplo- that if she wanted to race him, she was going to ry of his youth, ma,” says the elder Wisner. need some luck because this was a severe prob- he says, was When Wade joined the lem that could interfere with his ability to “mixing hot practice ten years back, he become a racehorse.” mash for the Cindy Pierson Dulay/horse-races.net contributed his knowledge Magic got lucky. In 2002, after a promising horses in the Magic Weisner in the post- parade. of newer medications and start that included a handful of stakes victories, wintertime.” techniques like ultrasound the gelding longshot – whose dam Alberts pur- Young Wisner housed strays and, for as long and gastroscopy. While he enjoys the occasion- chased for $1 when the filly was an unsound 2- as he can remember, dreamed of becoming a al opportunity to work alongside Wade in sur- year-old – took second in the Preakness Stakes, veterinarian. As a teenager, he learned to ride, gery, Wisner spends more than half of his 60- finishing just 3/4 of a length behind Kentucky and recalls being comforted by his being young hour work week on the road making farm Derby winner , and fourth in the enough and small enough – Wisner stands 5'2" calls. He hopes to turn the reins over to his son . This summer, Magic Weisner today – to become a jockey if his veterinary in the next few years so that he can spend time had his first graded stakes win in the Ohio pursuits faltered. on hobbies like hunting and bass fishing. Derby on July 20, and placed second again to After completing a pre-veterinary science And certainly, Wisner plans to continue fol- War Emblem in the Haskell Invitational on curriculum at Penn State University and the lowing the racing career of his other junior, August 4. University of Maryland, Wisner began veteri- Magic Weisner. Wisner, who follows racing and once nary school. He says that the greatest career Editor’s note: Magic was treated at New dabbled in the sport as a horse owner and impact of his veterinary education at Penn Bolton Center in early September for West Nile breeder, was unaware of his former patient’s came from “the guidance and contact I had virus. He is expected to make a full recovery and athletic prowess – and his name, Magic Weisner with Dr. Charles Raker.” return to racing. D. Robert Vallance, V’70, is (a misspelling by Alberts of Wisner’s name) – After graduation, Wisner opened a mixed Magic’s veterinarian at his home track, Laurel until a veterinarian at practice. He recollects these early days fondly. Park, in Laurel, Md.

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