Will Take Charge settles in at Gulfstream

Will Take Charge has taken his traveling road show to Gulfstream for the Donn Handicap (Barbara Weidl/Equi-Photo) Champion Will Take Charge arrived by van early Tuesday morning at Gulfstream Park, where the D. Wayne Lukas-trained four-year-old star is slated to make his 2014 debut in Sunday’s $500,000 Donn Handicap. The son of Unbridled Song, who was named last year’s champion three-year-old at the Eclipse Awards ceremony at Gulfstream Park last month, appeared alert and bright after his journey from Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas. “He handled the trip great. It’s unbelievable how good he is. It took us 20 hours and 20 minutes to get here, and you’d never know it to look at him,” said John Sica, the Lukas assistant who drove the van that delivered the likely favorite for Sunday’s 1 1/8-mile fixture. “He has a great mind.”

Lukas, a five-time Eclipse Award winner who has saddled four Kentucky Derby
winners and 14 winners of Triple Crown events overall, is expected to be at
Gulfstream on Friday, Sica said.

As the 123-pound highweight, Will Take Charge will concede at least four
pounds to his Donn rivals, expected to include Louisiana Derby winner
Revolutionary (119), Hal’s Hope victor Lea (117), Harlan’s Holiday winner River
Seven, 2012 Indiana Derby hero Neck ‘n Neck, and Discovery Handicap winner
Romansh. The 59th running of the Donn Handicap will be nationally televised by
Fox Sports 1 (5-6:30 p.m. EST), kicking off “The Jockey Club Tour on FOX”
series.

Will Take Charge is stabled in Barn 2 with former Lukas assistant Todd
Pletcher’s Gulfstream division, two barns away from Mucho Macho Man, who nosed
him out of a victory in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on
November 2. The Lukas-trained colt had previously captured the Travers at
Saratoga and the Pennsylvania Derby at Parx. He concluded his championship
season with a triumph over older rivals in the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs
on November 29.

“He is such a good horse,” Sica said. “His mother was a really good horse;
his brother won the Florida Derby.”

The breeding of Willis Horton’s champion would certainly suggest that the
Kentucky-bred colt will be well-suited to the Gulfstream surface. His dam,
multiple Grade 1-stakes winner Take Charge Lady, produced Take Charge Indy, who
captured the 2012 Florida Derby for trainer Patrick Byrne. His sire, Unbridled’s
Song, was a Florida Derby winner for trainer James Ryerson, defeating the
Lukas-trained Editor’s Note by more than five lengths in 1996.

Will Take Charge is scheduled to walk Wednesday before getting acquainted
with the Gulfstream racetrack Thursday morning.

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