LEXINGTON, Ky. – Take Charge Lady gave trainer Kenny McPeek the first of his three wins in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes – and then some. She was unbeaten at Keeneland, also winning the Alcibiades Stakes, then a Grade 2 event, and two editions of the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes. “Some said she was the queen of Keeneland,” McPeek reminisced. Multimillionaire Take Charge Lady went on to an influential career as a broodmare. Twenty-three years after her Ashland score, McPeek has sent Take Charge Milady, by the mare’s Grade 1-winning son Take Charge Indy, in for Monday’s edition of the Ashland. “This filly looks so much like her,” McPeek said. “I’m really excited to run her there.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. The Grade 1, $750,000 Ashland Stakes drew a field of eight, with graded stakes-winning juveniles La Cara and Muhimma joined by Look Forward, Running Away, and Take Charge Milady, all stakes winners this winter. With Keeneland postponing its Friday card to Monday due to storms and potentially flooding in Lexington, this 1 1/16-mile race becomes the final prep race toward the Kentucky Oaks, awarding points on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale. Take Charge Lady won the 2002 Ashland en route to finishing second in the Kentucky Oaks – one of McPeek’s three runner-up finishes in the filly classic before breaking through last year with eventual Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna. That champion had her final Oaks prep in the Grade 2 Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn, and McPeek had entered Take Charge Milady in this year’s edition. However, the filly, who had a shoeing adjustment on March 28, was scratched the morning of the March 29 race with what was termed a minor foot issue. She showed no ill effects as she stepped out to fire a bullet half-mile the following morning at Oaklawn, and she appears ready for her rerouted assignment. “I actually like the extra week,” said McPeek, who also won the Ashland in 2014, in a dead heat, with Rosalind and in 2023 with Defining Purpose. Take Charge Milady, who wound up with a little more than an extra week, won her maiden by four lengths on Jan. 5 at Oaklawn, thriving on a muddy track. She is the only filly in this octet to win on a wet track, a condition that is a near-certainty on Monday. The filly then won the Martha Washington Stakes on Jan. 25, pulling away by 5 3/4 lengths over Quietside. However, continuing on the Oaklawn path, she never threatened while finishing eighth in the Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes on Feb. 23. There, she was taken out of her game after a tight start that left her far back on a track favoring speed, and she found additional traffic at the three-eighths pole. The Honeybee has come back as one of the key Oaks preps. Victorious Quietside won the Fantasy, while runner-up Five G recently won the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks. Two other Ashland entrants emerge from the Honeybee – beaten favorite Muhimma, third, and Look Forward, 10th after a bobbling start. Muhimma won all three starts as a 2-year-old for Brad Cox, including the Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes at Aqueduct, in which she scored on the lead at the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Oaks. In the Honeybee, she pulled early racing in third and drifted out in the stretch. Look Forward, cross-entered in Saturday’s Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks, plans to run at Keeneland, trainer Michael McCarthy said. Prior to the Honeybee, she was second to Tenma in the Grade 2 Starlet Stakes, then won the seven-furlong Santa Ynez Stakes. La Cara has been targeting the Ashland for some time. After the filly won the Suncoast on Feb. 8 at Tampa Bay, trainer Mark Casse wanted a bridge to create ideal timing into the Ashland, then the Kentucky Oaks. He cut the filly back to a mile for the Grade 2 Davona Dale on March 1 at Gulfstream, and a not-fully-cranked La Cara finished an unthreatening second. “We’re ready,” Casse said. “She’s ready for her best performance, and we’ll just see where it lands her.” La Cara, by a solid wet-track sire in Street Sense, won the Suncoast on the lead but rallied from seventh midway when winning the Grade 3 Pocahontas last September. That should give rider Dylan Davis some options – which is crucial, as La Cara has drawn post 2 inside potential frontrunners Muhimma in post 4 and Running Away in post 5. Take Charge Milady is well-drawn to race in the vanguard from post 6 with Brian Hernandez Jr. in the irons. Running Away began her career on turf before winning two straight on dirt for Wesley Ward, most recently the Busanda Stakes on Jan. 18 at Aqueduct. Also emerging from a New York prep is Amarth, caught by three-quarters of a length in the Busher Invitational after leading in the stretch. Amarth is the only member of this field to have raced at Keeneland, breaking her maiden here last fall for Eddie Kenneally. Admit wheels back after finishing third in the March 22 Bourbonette Oaks at Turfway, where she had a productive campaign on the Tapeta for Tom Drury Jr. She hinted at dirt promise last year. Supa Speed, second by a nose in the Grade 2 Santa Ysabel after a taxing duel, completes the field for John Sadler. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.