A newly crowned champion stepped onto the track at Oaklawn Park Sunday.
Take Charge Brandi, preparing for her scheduled 3-year-old debut Saturday, worked five furlongs in 1:01 3-5 for Hall of Fame trainer Wayne Lukas. Third fastest of 57 horses clocked at the distance, the 3-year-old filly recorded her fourth timed breeze over the track where she looms the overwhelming favorite in the $100,000 Martha Washington going one mile.
"I think we'll be lucky to get five to run," said Oaklawn racing secretary Pat Pope.
High Dollar Woman, another Martha Washington probable, later worked five furlongs in 1:03.20 for trainer Tony Dutrow. A July maiden winner at Saratoga, High Dollar Woman comes off a three-length victory last month in an entry-level allowance at Parx in Pennsylvania.
From 28 nominations, Pope said the only other expected starter is Perfect Fit, trained by Bret Calhoun, whose undefeated 3-year-old filly Promise Me Silver won Oaklawn's Dixie Belle Jan. 15 going six furlongs.
The Martha Washington offers points to the top four finishers for a possible start in the May 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, Lukas' major spring goal for the Giant's Causeway filly owned by Willis Horton of Marshall. The Martha Washington is a springboard to Oaklawn's pair of Grade 3 stakes for 3-year-old fillies, the $150,000 Honeybee March 7 and the $400,000 Fantasy April 4, both at a mile and a sixteenth.
Take Charge Brandi took charge of the 2-year-old filly division last fall with three graded wins in six weeks. Proving her Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile victory at 61-1 odds no fluke, the Lukas trainee took the Grade 2 Delta Downs Princess and the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity, securing the second Eclipse Award in as many years for the Horton-Lukas connection.
With regular rider Victor Espinoza unavailable, Jon Court is scheduled to pilot Take Charge Brandi for the first time in the Martha Washington. Court rides frequently for Lukas at Oaklawn and Churchill Downs, winning Oaklawn's Smarty Jones and Grade 2 Rebel aboard champion Will Take Charge (also owned by Horton) in 2013.
Derby watch: The Truth Or Else, an Arkansas Derby candidate trained by Ken McPeek, breezed a half-mile in 49.60 seconds Sunday, the colt's first workout since turning 3 Jan. 1. McPeek said The Truth Or Else will "probably need" two or three works before his seasonal debut, the trainer preferring a mile entry-level allowance as a tune-up for the Grade 2 $750,000 Rebel March 14. The Grade 1 $1 million Arkansas Derby is April 11.
The Truth Or Else faced heavyweight competition in New York, earning two points for a possible start in the May 2 Kentucky Derby with thirds in the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park and the Grade 2 Nashua at Aqueduct Race Course.
"He had a solid campaign, and I think it was just time to give him a little bit of a rest," said McPeek, who conditions the Yes It's True colt, a September Belmont maiden winner, for Harold Lerner LLC.
McPeek told Oaklawn publicists that he has penciled in 3-year-old filly Pangburn for a Feb. 5 entry-level allowance/optional claimer at 1 1/16 miles as a Honeybee prep.
A Congrats filly owned by Arkansas lumberman John Ed Anthony and bearing the name of a White River city, Pangburn finished second in Churchill Downs' Grade 2 Pocahontas Sept. 6, her second career start. McPeek said a virus cost Pangburn a start in Keeneland's Grade 1 Alcibiades Oct. 3.
"The virus kind of knocked her back and we just decided to let her get a little bigger and stronger," McPeek said. "We've been real conservative with her up to now."
Although best known for owning three Arkansas Derby-winning colts, Anthony won the 1993 Fantasy and Honeybee with the Tom Bohannan-trained filly Aztec Hill.
Anthony and McPeek received cheering news Saturday night from Texas as 5-year-old homebred Trace Creek finished second in the Grade 3 John B. Connally Turf Cup at Sam Houston Race Park. A two-time winner last year over Oaklawn's dirt surface, the 5-year-old by Harperstown has thrived on the turf with a Keeneland victory and a Churchill Downs second last fall.
Trace Creek finished 3 1/2 lengths behind odds-on favorite Coalport ($3.80) in the Connally, Mike Maker training the 5-year-old winner owned and bred by 2014 Eclipse Awards recipients Ken and Sarah Ramsey. Bim Bam, owned by Hot Springs connections Ella Lou Smith and Chuck Hagaman and trained by Ron Moquett, finished last of nine in the Connally going a mile and an eighth over firm-rated grass.
Sports on 01/26/2015