Will Take Charge survives inquiry, objection to take Oaklawn Handicap

Will Take Charge survives inquiry, objection to take

Oaklawn Handicap

Revolutionary was game in defeat, a half-length up on third-placer Carve. It

was another 1 3/4 lengths back to Prayer for Relief, with Golden Lad just

missing the top four by a neck. Right to Vote faded to last and Moreno was

withdrawn.

Will Take Charge broke his maiden in his second career start in the fall of

2012 and, after an unplaced finish in the Kentucky Jockey Club, he concluded his

juvenile season with a runner-up finish in the Springboard Mile at Remington

Park. He opened 2013 with a victory in the Smarty Jones in January but didn't

fire when making his next start over a sloppy track in the Southwest, checking

in sixth.

The well-bred colt rebounded with a 28-1 upset in the Rebel Stakes in

mid-March and then trained up to the 2013 Kentucky Derby. He launched a bid from

off the pace over the sloppy track at Churchill Downs but was stopped in

midstretch when a tiring Verrazano drifted out into his path, winding up eighth

in the first leg of the Triple Crown. Will Take Charge continued on along the

trail but was never a factor while finishing seventh in the Preakness and 10th

in the Belmont Stakes.

After a well-deserved freshening, Will Take Charge returned to action with a

fast-closing second in the Jim Dandy last July at Saratoga, only a length back

of Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice. He defeated that same rival, as well as

Kentucky Derby victor Orb, in the August 24 Travers, earning his first Grade 1

tally, and followed with a convincing 2 1/4-length triumph in the September 21

Pennsylvania Derby.

Will Take Charge tried to make it three in a row when facing his elders for

the first time in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park, but ran in to

another late bloomer in Mucho Macho Man. The chestnut colt gave it all he had to

end up just a nose short on the wire of the Classic, then closed out his

sophomore campaign by dueling with multiple Grade 1-scorning multi-millionaire

Game On Dude in the Clark Handicap at Churchill on November 29. Will Take Charge

prevailed by a head that day, and was honored in January with an Eclipse Award

as champion three-year-old male.

Saturday's Oaklawn 'Cap was Will Take Charge's third start in 2014 after

opening his four-year-old campaign with a pair of runner-up finishes in the Donn

Handicap and Santa Anita Handicap, the latter of which allowed Game On Dude to

gain a measure of revenge as the 1 3/4-length winner that day. With the winner's

share from the Oaklawn Handicap, Will Take Charge has now banked $3,665,148 in

his career while running up an 18-7-5-0 scorecard.

Bred in Kentucky by Eaton, Will Take Charge was purchased for $425,000 at the

2011 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. By Unbridled's Song, he hails from the

multiple Grade 1-winning mare Take Charge Lady, a daughter of Dehere who earned

more than $2.4 million. The 14-year-old has proven to be a rousing success as a

broodmare as well.

Will Take Charge is a half-brother to Grade 1-winning millionaire Take Charge

Indy, hero of the 2012 Florida Derby and 2013 Alysheba. Take Charge Lady is also

responsible for a juvenile filly by Indian Charlie named I'll Take Charge who

sold for $2.2 million at the 2013 Keeneland September sale.

Take Charge Lady is herself a half-sibling to Grade 3-placed stakes winners

Commendation and Eventail, the latter of whom foaled Grade 2 victor Straight

Story. This female family is also responsible for Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint hero

Chamberlain Bridge, who won or placed in 30 stakes while banking nearly $2

million in career earnings; Grade 1 scorer My Gallant, third in the 1973 Belmont

Stakes; Times Two, who ran third in the 1961 Kentucky Oaks; and Royal Bay Gem,

placed in the 1953 Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

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