Take Charge Indy's success prompts return

Take Charge Indy is the rare exception of a stallion who was sold to overseas interests and then returned to the United States to resume stud duties after being repurchased. A few others who preceded him were Empire Maker, the grandsire of 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah who repatriated from Japan in 2016 after four years, and Kentucky Derby winner Dust Commander, who was sent to Japan in 1973 before his first foals raced and was returned to stand in Kentucky in 1980 after getting a number of top runners from his first several crops.

Take Charge Indy, sold to Korean interests to stand at Jeju Stud in Korea in 2017 before his first foals raced, returns to his original home, WinStar Farm, in Versailles, Ky., for the 2020 breeding season for a fee of $17,500. The reason this happened was clear as soon as Take Charge Indy’s progeny reached the races: He was a top sire. He was sold in November 2016, and when his first crop raced in 2017, he finished as the third-leading freshman sire in the country. The next year, he was the second-leading second-crop sire in the country. That was enough evidence to make good on the promise that WinStar president Elliott Walden made when announcing the sale: “Selling Take Charge Indy was one of the toughest decisions I’ve had to make in my time as a syndicate manager, but, ultimately, we have to blend the passion we have for our horses with business principles for our shareholders. The good news is we have the option to bring him back to America in the future.”

Buy him back they did. Take Charge Indy’s ascent was completed in 2019, when he finished the year as the leading third-crop sire in North America. Take Charge Indy’s leading runner, both lifetime and in 2019, is Long Range Toddy, who in 2019 at age 3 won a division of the Grade 2 Rebel at Oaklawn and earned $597,584, to bring his career total to $918,709.

Take Charge Indy, a son of sire of sires A.P. Indy, led the third-crop sire list with $6,165,739 in progeny earnings, with 94 winners. He was represented by five stakes winners, the most for any third-crop sire.

Take Charge Indy, a half-brother to 2013 champion 3-year-old male Will Take Charge, had $12.1 million in total progeny earnings and 17 stakes winners through Dec. 31.

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