Injury sends Will Take Charge into retirement

Will Take Charge, the 3-year-old champion of 2013, has been retired and will begin stud duty next year at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky.

An announcement was released to the media Sunday, saying the colt had suffered a mild suspensory strain, forcing him to miss his final two scheduled starts, the Jockey Club Gold Cup next Saturday at Belmont Park and the Nov. 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who was not on hand Sunday at Churchill Downs because he is sick, according to assistant Bas Nicholl, said in the release that the colt’s retirement “is particularly disappointing as we were primed, as an older horse, to win the Classic this year, which we lost by a whisker last year.”

Owned by retired Arkansas businessman Willis Horton, Will Take Charge, by the late Unbridled’s Song, won 7 of 21 career starts for earnings of $3,924,648. While not a factor in the 2013 Triple Crown series, he suddenly came alive in the second half of the season by winning the Travers and Pennsylvania Derby; being beaten just a nose in the BC Classic; and capping his year by winning the Clark Handicap. As a 4-year-old, he won 1 of 6 starts, with his final start a third-place finish in the Aug. 2 Whitney at Saratoga.

Partial interest in the colt was sold in January to Three Chimneys, owned by Goncalo Torrealbes.