Take Charge Brandi gives Lukas a boost

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – D. Wayne Lukas will turn 79 on Sept. 2 but continues to exude the enthusiasm of a far younger man – especially when he’s winning.

Lukas, the Hall of Fame trainer honored with the 2013 Eclipse Award of Merit, sent out a 2-year-old filly named Take Charge Brandi for a winning debut Sunday at Churchill Downs and was all smiles at his Barn 44 headquarters the following morning.

“How’d ya like that one?” he grinned. “She might be okay, that filly.”

Until last weekend, the spring meet at Churchill had not gone particularly well for Lukas. His horses had won just one of 37 starts while his stable star and most recent champion, Will Take Charge, was defeated in both starts at the meet in the Alysheba and Stephen Foster.

But much of that disappointment was forgotten when Lukas won with his only two starters last weekend. He won a maiden-claiming race on the Downs After Dark card Friday, and then Take Charge Brandi, a $435,000 yearling purchase by Willis Horton, made all the running Sunday under Corey Lanerie, going clear with ease to win the 4 1/2-furlong race by 2 1/2 lengths. The runner-up was Conquest Archangel, a highly touted first-timer from the Mark Casse barn.

“We’re going to think about the Schuylerville,” said Lukas, referring to the traditional opening-day feature at Saratoga on July 18.

Take Charge Brandi, by Giant’s Causeway out of the 9-year-old mare Charming, shares a similar name with Will Take Charge partly because of their shared bloodlines. Charming was the first foal of Take Charge Lady, the dam of Will Take Charge, a 4-year-old colt by the late Unbridled’s Song. Both horses are owned by Horton, a retired Arkansas businessman who named the chestnut filly for a granddaughter, Lukas said.

Lukas said Will Take Charge, an earner of almost $3.8 million, will race next in the Aug. 2 Whitney off his runner-up finish in the June 14 Foster.

A city and a horse

Much of the sporting world has been focused recently on Manaus, the northern Brazilian city where World Cup soccer matches are being played, including the 2-2 draw Sunday between the United States and Portugal.

Eduardo Caramori, a native of Brazil, just happens to train a 3-year-old colt named Manaus at the Thoroughbred training center in Lexington, Ky. Manaus (the city) is situated on the banks of the Rio Negro, or Black River.

“We tried to name him Rio Negro, but The Jockey Club turned it down,” said Caramori.

Manaus, a Kentucky-bred by Stroll, was bought for just $3,000 as a yearling by Equinox Inc., a partnership headed by Caramori. The colt has been quite active and fairly productive, having won twice while earning $103,590 from 11 starts.

Caramori, 55, has been training in the United States since 1992. Until last year, he had been playing soccer in an over-40 league before a hip injury forced him to retire. He claims citizenship in three countries: the United States, Brazil, and Italy.

“I have three teams still in the World Cup,” he said happily.

Caramori, who saddled First American to a 16th-place finish at 34-1 in the 1999 Kentucky Derby, is from the southern Brazilian city of Sao Paolo, which is 1,670 miles from Manaus.

“They are very far apart,” he said. “About like from Miami to Maine.”

◗ Conquest Archangel, the runner-up behind Take Charge Brandi, and Bedford Land, who won the other “split” of a maiden race for 2-year-old fillies Sunday for Casse, both are headed soon for Del Mar, which opens July 17.

Casse is planning to send 30 to 40 horses to Del Mar, where 2014 will be the final year for a synthetic surface as the main track. Casse, a six-time Sovereign Award winner, uses Woodbine and its Polytrack as his primary base, thus the reason for giving Del Mar a try.

“We’ve got horses that have trained on Poly and are used to it,” he said.

◗ Promise Me Silver, the winner of the Debutante Stakes here Saturday by two lengths over the Casse-trained Unbridled Reward, could make her next start at Saratoga, said trainer Bret Calhoun.

“We’ll see how she looks the next couple weeks,” he said.

Promise Me Silver was the second straight Texas-bred to win the ungraded Debutante, following Fiftyshadesofgold last year, also for Calhoun.

◗ Speedinthruthecity, an impressive winner of an overnight stakes on the Saturday undercard, will make her next start at Saratoga in a race yet to be determined, said trainer Steve Asmussen. The 4-year-old filly earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure when extricating herself from midstretch traffic under Julien Leparoux and drawing off to prevail by 4 3/4 lengths.