Will Take Charge rallies dramatically to catch Game on Dude in Clark

Will Take Charge rallies dramatically to catch Game on Dude
in Clark

Will Take Charge finished fast to defeat an ultra-game Game On Dude (Reed Palmer/Churchill Downs Photography) The young star defeated the classy veteran in the end. Willis Horton’s Will Take Charge showed why he’s the best three-year-old male in the country with a gutsy victory in Saturday’s Grade 1, $550,700 Clark Handicap, wearing down top older horse Game On Dude in the final yards at Churchill Downs. Both horses ran their eyeballs out and it was a tough setback, to say the least, for the runner-up. Game On Dude led by a clear margin in deep stretch but could not withstand the oncoming challenger, who notched his third graded stakes victory in his last four starts. Since July, Will Take Charge has captured the Travers, Pennsylvania Derby and Clark, the lone setback coming by a dirty nose to Mucho Macho Man following a wide trip in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

The D. Wayne Lukas-trained son of Unbridled’s Song has come a long way since
recording three consecutive unplaced finishes in the Triple Crown.

“I thought maybe it was his best race of the year, frankly, even though the
Breeders’ Cup (Classic) was sensational,” Lukas said. “On this particular
surface going an eighth of a mile shorter I think he showed his versatility
pretty good today.

“The way the track was playing today — it wasn’t as glib and as bouncy as
it’s been before — I thought making a closing run was going to be more
difficult than when we have our normal track here with the weather and
everything.”

Our Double Play broke sharply from his outside post and led the way into the
first turn. Jaguar Paw was chasing him second and Game On Dude settled about two
lengths back in third after an opening quarter-mile in :23 4/5, with Will Take
Charge another couple of lengths behind in fourth and well off the rail rounding
the first turn.

The Clark turned out to be a late-season treat for racing fans as Will Take Charge and Game on Dude battled to the wire (Wendy Wooley/EquiSport Photos) Game On Dude advanced into a tracking second along the outside of the pacesetter as the field made its way into the backstretch. Our Double Play reeled off the next splits in :47 1/5 and 1:11, but gave way to Game On Dude about midway on the final turn. Will Take Charge continued to travel wide down the backstretch and was asked for run by jockey Luis Saez on the far turn, but the chestnut colt still had plenty of work to do while several lengths back of the leader entering the stretch drive. Game On Dude turned for home full of run and passed the mile mark in 1:36 with a 2 1/2-length advantage before his rival responded to the urgings of his rider. Will Take Charge accelerated rapidly into contention in the final furlong and caught Game On Dude in the shadow of the wire, forging his way to a remarkable head decision.

Saez was asked whether he thought Will Take Charge would catch Game On Dude
at the eighth-pole?

“No. When we came into the stretch my horse had to change his leads so that’s
what I tried to do,” the jockey said. “But when he changed (leads) he was flying
and I knew I was going to beat him.”

“Like I said to Willis (Horton), I think we were going to need every yard,”
Lukas added. “He’s gotten the idea now. He’s a classy horse and he’s gotten the
idea of getting up.

“He seems to know where the wire is. The last four strides you could see he
really…I don’t know what (the strides) measured but they were long.”

Off as the 2-1 second choice, Will Take Charge paid $6.80 to win after
completing 1 1/8 miles in 1:49 1/5 on the fast track.

Game On Dude, the 6-5 favorite in the nine-horse field, sustained his second
consecutive setback after winning six straight races, but the Bob
Baffert-trained six-year-old acquitted himself quite nicely Saturday following a
disappointing ninth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

“If I could do anything over, just because I’m a perfectionist and I get on
myself harder than anyone else, I might have waited a little bit more (before
going to the lead on far turn),” said Mike Smith, rider of Game On Dude. “But in
doing that he (Will Take Charge) might have got me easier.

“(Game On Dude) is not as big as (Will Take Charge) is. That horse has a big,
big stride. At some point I thought I’d want to try and put a little distance
between us, because we’ve all seen Game On Dude do that and destroy a field.
He’ll make that middle move and really put some distance between people and they
can’t ever catch him. So I thought I would try that a little bit, and afterwards
I thought, dang it, I should have waited a little more, but I don’t know if I
was going to beat him.”

The rest of the field was never a serious factor. Easter Gift finished two
lengths back in third and was followed under the wire by Bourbon Courage, Jaguar
Paw, Finnegans Wake, Our Double Play, Golden Ticket and Prayer for Relief.

Will Take Charge broke his maiden in his second career start last fall and
after an unplaced finish in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club, he concluded his
juvenile season with a runner-up 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 Grade 3 Southwest, checking in
sixth.

Horton led his colt and Saez into the Clark winner’s circle (Reed Palmer/Churchill Downs Photography) The well-bred colt rebounded with a 28-1 upset in the Grade 2 Rebel Stakes in mid-March and then trained up to the 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 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 Grade 2 Jim Dandy on July 27, only a length back of Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice. He defeated that same rival, as well as Kentucky Derby winner 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. Bred in Kentucky by Eaton, Will Take Charge was purchased for $425,000 at the 2011 Keeneland yearling sale. 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 last year’s Florida Derby and the Grade 2 Alysheba earlier this
season. Take Charge Lady is also responsible for an unnamed yearling filly by
Indian Charlie who sold for $2.2 million at this year’s Keeneland September sale
and a 2013 filly by War Chant.

Horton hasn’t made a decision whether to retire Will Take Charge or race him
next year.

“Naturally it makes it harder,” the owner said after the Clark. “But I made a
decision this week that next week was going to be the end of it — I can’t sleep
at night with this deal going on. I just want it over with. I (am) either going
to sell him or run him next year. I hope I could keep part of him and get to run
him next year. That’s my plan.”

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