Churchill Downs: Clark weight spread narrow between Game On Dude, Will Take Charge

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Game On Dude has been assigned high weight of 126 pounds, three more than his younger rival, Will Take Charge, for the signature race at the Churchill Downs fall meet, the Grade 1, $500,000 Clark Handicap next Friday.

The weight spread between the two Clark favorites is a tad closer than in the Nov. 2 Breeders’ Cup Classic, in which 3-year-old Will Take Charge carried 122 pounds when finishing second by a nose at 8-1 to Mucho Macho Man. Game On Dude was a fading ninth as the 8-5 favorite under 126 pounds.

Trainer Bob Baffert said Friday that Game On Dude, a 6-year-old gelding with $5.6 million in earnings, is scheduled to breeze again this weekend at Santa Anita before being flown Wednesday to Kentucky. A Tex Sutton charter flight transporting New York and Kentucky horses to California for the big races next weekend at Betfair Hollywood Park will arrive Tuesday and return early the next morning, according to company agent Buddy Fife.

At Churchill, Will Take Charge had his final pre-Clark breeze Friday for trainer D. Wayne Lukas when going five furlongs in 1:01 well before dawn over a track rated as good. It was the second work for the stretching-running Will Take Charge since the Classic.

Among the other Clark probables is Golden Ticket (120 pounds), runner-up behind Goldencents in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Trainer Ken McPeek initially intended to send Golden Ticket to Aqueduct for the Cigar Mile but had a change of heart when seeing how strong that race is shaping up.

“A couple of his better speed figures are here at Churchill, plus he doesn’t have to ship,” McPeek said of keeping Golden Ticker at Churchill. “That race in New York looked like it was coming up pretty deep with a big field.”

Clark entries will be drawn Tuesday.

Believe You Can retired

Believe You Can, the 2012 Kentucky Oaks winner, has been retired, it was officially announced Friday by her owner-breeder, former Kentucky Gov. Brereton C. Jones.

“She gave us everything she had, all the way through,” Jones said from his Airdrie Stud in Midway, Ky., where Believe You Can will become a broodmare. “We probably could’ve gotten her ready to run again in a few months, but she’s done enough. She deserves this.”

Believe You Can was being pointed by trainer Larry Jones (no relation) to the traditional Thanksgiving Day feature at Churchill, the Grade 2 Falls City Handicap, before it was decided to retire her with 8 wins from 14 career starts and earnings of $1,280,324. Easily the biggest of her six stakes victories was the Oaks, in which she was 13-1 and made Rosie Napravnik the first winning female jockey in race history.

Even without Believe You Can, the $150,000 Falls City is still coming up a solid race, with probable starters set to include Don’t Tell Sophia, Flashy American, and Wine Princess. Entries will be drawn Sunday.

Early 2014 Derby betting

The first pari-mutuel Kentucky Derby Future Wager pool to be held in November is set for a Wednesday opening. The format is essentially the same as previous Future Wager pools, with 23 separately listed wagering interests and a 24th “all others” option. The Pool 1 horses will be announced Monday. Win and exacta wagering will be available.

This will be known as “Pool 1” toward the 2014 Derby and will be open for four days, through post time for either the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill or the Remsen at Aqueduct, whichever comes first. Pool 2 is set for Feb. 6-8; Pool 3, Feb. 27 to March 1; and Pool 4, March 27-29.

Like father, like son

When 19-year-old Drayden VanDyke won with his second career mount Thursday at Betfair Hollywood in California, he followed in the footsteps of his dad, Seth, who did precisely the same thing in 1989 at Remington Park.

“I only rode for several years, off-and-on, but I won with my second mount, too,” said Seth VanDyke, who works as an exercise rider and jockey valet in Kentucky and Florida. “My phone hasn’t stopped blowing up since Drayden won. It’s something else. I couldn’t be any prouder.”

Rocco nursing sore foot

Jockey Joe Rocco Jr. missed a fourth straight day of riding Friday when still bothered by a foot injured in a mishap behind the starting gate before the second race last Sunday. Rocco said via text message Thursday that he underwent a magnetic resonance imaging test the previous day and that his foot was “feeling a bit better” and that he was hopeful of being back in the saddle any day.

◗ Back-to-back allowance races on a nine-race Sunday card at Churchill serve as the nominal features. Race 7 drew an overflow field of first-level turf routers, and race 8 got an interesting lineup of sprinters competing under a second-level allowance condition. First post is 12:40 p.m. Eastern. Unseasonable cold (high temperatures only in the mid-30s) is in the forecast.

◗ The popular “Horses and Hope” initiative will be reprised Sunday at Churchill, meaning the color pink will be very much in evidence, including pink lighting in the famed Twin Spires and pink saddle towels for every horse in one designated race. Created in 2008 by Kentucky first lady Jane Beshear, “Horses and Hope” endeavors to increase breast-cancer awareness, education, screening, and treatment referral.