Churchill Downs notes: Will Take Charge drills for Clark Handicap

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Will Take Charge has come out of his narrow defeat in the Breeders’ Cup Classic in such fine shape that trainer D. Wayne Lukas is going full speed ahead toward one more race in the 2013 season, the Grade 1 Clark Handicap on Nov. 29 at the horse’s home track, Churchill Downs.

Lukas sent out Will Take Charge for his first workout since the Classic when the 3-year-old colt breezed an easy half-mile Saturday morning in 49 seconds over a fast track at Churchill. Will Take Charge was second by a nose to Mucho Macho Man in the Nov. 2 Classic at Santa Anita.

“I just wanted to have him stretch his legs,” said Lukas. “We’ll do a little something more serious next weekend.”

Will Take Charge will have Luis Saez back aboard in the $500,000 Clark, with Game On Dude, the well-beaten Classic favorite, among his possible opponents. Lukas is aware that he is risking the possibility of losing valuable ground in the race for an Eclipse Award in the 3-year-old division if Will Take Charge throws in a clunker in the 1 1/8-mile Clark, but he is so confident in how the colt has come to peak form that he seems quite unconcerned about that.

“He’s come out of this as good as he’s come out of some of his other big efforts this year,” he said.

In California, trainer Bob Baffert has said repeatedly that he is seriously considering sending Game On Dude here to give the 6-year-old gelding a shot at redeeming himself for his ninth-place finish in the Classic. Mike Smith would have the ride back if he runs.

Meanwhile, Lukas said he intends to ship his entire stable to Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., shortly after the 25-day Churchill fall meet ends Nov. 30 with a pair of stakes for 2-year-olds, the Golden Rod and Kentucky Jockey Club.

Lukas said he seriously thought about the KJC for Strong Mandate, the third-place finisher in the BC Juvenile, before deciding to give the colt a brief rest.

“We’ll get him ready for some of the races down there in Hot Springs,” said Lukas. “The spring will sneak up on you a lot faster than you think.”

King David 121 for River City

Weights for the lone Churchill stakes of the coming week, the Grade 3 River City Handicap, were released Saturday, with King David pegged as the 121-pound highweight for the 1 1/8-mile turf race next Saturday, Nov. 23.

Probable starters for the River City include Daddy Nose Best (118), Keep Up (117), Olympic Thunder (116), Villandry (116), Jaguar Paw (115), Set the Sail (115), Kalamos (114), and surely a few more from a nominations list of 43 3-year-olds and upward.

Keep Up, trained by Alex Clarkson, won the 2012 River City as a 30-1 shot over odds-on Boisterous. The race was run last year on Thanksgiving weekend but was shifted to an earlier date this fall when Churchill made a few changes to its stakes schedules to accommodate the new September meet.

Mott exacta pays boxcars

Bill Mott has accomplished a whole lot at Churchill during his Hall of Fame career, including having amassed the most wins in track history with nearly 700.

But surely Mott never had done what he did Friday: His uncoupled entry of Market Magic and Turtle River finished 1-2 in the fifth race at respective odds of 45-1 and 21-1, with the exacta paying $713.60 for $2.

Market Magic, a first-time-starting 2-year-old filly by After Market, is co-owned by Dr. David Richardson, the noted local surgeon who was to present the winner’s trophy the following evening to the winner of the Mrs. Revere Stakes, the standout mare he co-owned with another physician, Dr. Hiram Polk.