Gulfstream Park: Will Take Charge tops 11-horse field for Donn

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Will Take Charge was assigned post 2 as part of an outstanding field of 11 older horses Sunday in the 59th running of the Grade 1, $500,000 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park.

The 1 1/8-mile Donn marks the first start for Will Take Charge since he ended his 3-year-old season with a dramatic victory over Game On Dude in the Nov. 29 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs, a Grade 1 race that clinched the colt the Eclipse Award for top 3-year-old of 2013.

[Donn Handicap: Get PPs, watch Sunday's card live]

Will Take Charge arrived here Tuesday from Oaklawn Park, while his Hall of Fame trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, was scheduled to arrive here Friday.

The 4-year-old Revolutionary, a sharp winner of a Jan. 11 allowance in his first start in seven months, drew alongside Will Take Charge in post 3 as the likely second choice for Todd Pletcher.

Yet another 4-year-old, Uncaptured, is one of a handful of fringe players in what shapes up as an intriguing start to the major handicap events of 2014.

“We’d just like to get a Grade 1 with him and thought he’d fit with these horses,” said Mark Casse, trainer of Uncaptured.

[Clocker Reports: Get Mike Welsch’s clocker reports from Gulfstream Park and Palm Meadows]

From the rail, and with weights and jockeys, this is the Donn lineup: Uncaptured, 116, Miguel Mena; Will Take Charge, 123, Luis Saez; Revolutionary, 119, Javier Castellano; Neck ‘n Neck, 116, Julien Leparoux; River Seven, 116, Joe Rocco Jr.; Romansh, 116, John Velazquez; Viramundo, 114, Paco Lopez; Lea, 117, Joel Rosario; Bourbon Courage, 115, Jose Lezcano; Macho Bull, 112, Magomet Kappushev; and Joshua’s Comprise, 114, Francisco Maysonett.

The Donn kicks off the new nine-race Jockey Club Tour on FOX series, with a 90-minute broadcast set for 5-6:30 p.m. Eastern on FOX Sports 1. Greg Wolf will host the show, with analysis and interviews provided by Simon Bray, Andy Serling, Richard Migliore, and Alyssa Ali.

The forecast for Sunday calls for a high of 82.

The Donn goes as the last of 12 races on a Sunday program that starts at 12:40 p.m. Post time for the Donn, the richest of three graded stakes on the card, is 6:01. In the undercard stakes:

◗ Grade 1, $300,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap (race 11, post 5:31): Boisterous, with Castellano riding and making his first start for Pletcher, drew the outside post as the 119-pound highweight in a field of eight older horses.

The 1 1/8-mile race looks well matched, with Summer Front and Imagining also likely to take strong play.

The field from the hedge: Lochte, Tetradrachm, Nikki’s Sandcastle, Charming Kitten, Summer Front, Amira’s Prince, Imagining, and Boisterous.

◗ Grade 3, $200,000 Hurricane Bertie (race 4, post 2:03): Two-time champion Groupie Doll will make her 23rd and final career start when she starts from the rail against six other fillies and mares in this 6 1/2-furlong race. Trainer Buff Bradley said Thursday he is extremely happy with how the 6-year-old Groupie Doll has trained up to the race.

“Now we just need to go out with a little racing luck,” said Bradley.

Three fillies scratched from the $75,000 Awesome Feather on Thursday are back in this race: My Due Process, Five Star Momma, and Wildcat Lily.

Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the last name of the host for Sunday's Jockey Club Tour on FOX broadcast. He is Greg Wolf, not Greg Fox