All systems go for Will Take Charge in the Donn

Newly crowned Eclipse Award winner Will Take Charge will

kick off 2014 in the Grade 1, $500,000 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park on February

9.

The Unbridled's Song colt nearly ran the table in the final months of his

sophomore season, defeating his peers in a pair of $1-million races -- the Travers

and Pennsylvania Derby -- before acquitting himself with aplomb

against his elders. After finishing second by a head to Mucho Macho

Man in the Breeders' Cup Classic on November 2, Will Take Charge got up in

time to defeat Game On Dude in the Clark Handicap 22 days later.

"I haven't seen the weights yet and I'm not sure who else

is running, but it's the first Grade 1 race of the year so I thought we'd take

advantage of it," trainer D. Wayne Lukas said.

The big chestnut is slated to arrive at Gulfstream on

February 4, five days before the Donn. He has been wintering at Oaklawn Park in

Hot Springs, Arkansas, and breezed six furlongs from the gate in 1:14 4/5 on

January 26.

"He's been training sensationally," Lukas praised. "He's

really developed and filled out, and he's been doing very, very well."

Despite finishing off the board in all three Triple Crown

races, Will Take Charge rewarded his trainer's faith with his late-season surge.

"I thought he was getting better and that we had a chance

at the championship if we could finish up in the fall, because that's usually

what happens -- the horses that finish strong are the ones (that win)," Lukas

reflected. "He developed and even though he had a very busy three-year-old campaign,

it didn't seem to affect him. He's actually better now than he's ever been. A

lot of that has to do with maturity. With the way he's filled out and finally

learned how to run, he could have a sensational year."

This will be the second trip to Gulfstream in a month for

Lukas, who was on hand to accept the Eclipse Award of Merit on January 18.

"That was pretty special," Lukas admitted. "In light of the people that had

previously won, I think it highlighted a career that I have enjoyed immensely.

You do it as a labor of love, as they say, but that was very special."

The 59th running of the Donn, the first race in The Jockey

Club Tour on Fox, will also feature Revolutionary, hero of last year's Louisiana

Derby and Withers prior to a third in the Kentucky Derby and a fifth-placing in

the Belmont Stakes to close out his sophomore season.

Owned

by WinStar Farm, the son of War Pass was victorious in his 2014 opener, a

one-mile optional claiming event at Gulfstream on January 11. The four-year-old

drilled a bullet half-mile in :47 4/5 for trainer Todd Pletcher at Palm Meadows

on January 27.

"He breezed well and everything's on schedule," Pletcher declared. "As you would expect for the Donn, it's a Grade

1 and it's

going to be a tough race, but we're looking forward to it."

Also nominated to the 1 1/8-mile event are Lea, a sharp winner of the January

11 Hal's Hope at Gulfstream in his

first start for conditioner Bill Mott; and the Nick Gonzalez-trained River

Seven, who established a track record for 8 1/2 furlongs when taking the Harlan's

Holiday on December 22 by four lengths.

Grade 2 hero Neck 'n Neck, fourth in the Harlan's Holiday and

third in the Hal's Hope in his past two for trainer Ian Wilkes, is expected to contest the Donn,

as is fellow Grade 2 scorer Bourbon Courage, second in last year's renewal of

the Donn and most recently third in

the Harlan's Holiday for trainer Kellyn Gorder.

Vosburgh victor Private Zone, most recently runner-up

in the November 30 Cigar Mile, was nominated to the Donn by California-based trainer

Doug O'Neill. Other possible entrants include Grade 3 winner Falling Sky, second to

Revolutionary on January 11 for the George Weaver barn; Long River, who is

riding a three-race win streak including a pair of Aqueduct stakes on behalf of the Kiaran McLaughlin string;

and Romansh, who romped by 9 1/4 lengths in the Discovery Handicap at Aqueduct on November 2

for trainer Tom Albertrani.

Weights for the Donn will be revealed on Saturday.

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