Take Charge Milady points to Honeybee as next start

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Take Charge Milady will likely continue on the Oaklawn Park road to the Kentucky Oaks following her Saturday win in the track’s $300,000 Martha Washington, trainer Kenny McPeek said Sunday.

Take Charge Milady now ranks second on the Kentucky Oaks points list after picking up 20 points for her Martha Washington win. She has initially emerged from the race in good order, McPeek said.

“We’ll probably come back in the Honeybee, and then go from there, then either Fantasy or Ashland,” he said of the potential campaign for Take Charge Milady.

The Grade 3, $500,000 Honeybee is the next race in Oaklawn’s series for 3-year-old fillies. It will be run Feb. 22. The final Kentucky Oaks points race at Oaklawn is the Fantasy, while the Ashland is run at Keeneland.

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Take Charge Milady charged home by more than five lengths in the Martha Washington, one start after a strong maiden special weight route win at Oaklawn.

“She reminds me of Take Charge Lady,” McPeek said of his former trainee, who was a multiple Grade 1 winner of $2.4 million. “She’s by a son of Take Charge Lady, Take Charge Indy.

“When I bought her, I bought her because her resemblance to Take Charge Lady was eerie, and I do think there’s something to that. [Take Charge Lady’s] son just basically printed her. It’s pretty cool.”

Take Charge Milady was making her fourth career start Saturday and earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 84.

“She’s always been a filly we were fond of,” McPeek said. “She had a small issue in the summer of her 2-year-old year, but I think that was fortuitous because it gave her time to grow up and look, the sky’s the limit with her.”

Take Charge Milady races for the partnership of James Ball, Magdalena Racing and Kenneth Rhodes.

McPeek was winning the Martha Washington for the second year in a row, after taking last year’s running with Band of Gold. McPeek also won last year’s Fantasy, with Thorpedo Anna, the eventual Horse of the Year who would go on to win the Kentucky Oaks and Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

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