Will Take Charge filly sparkles in debut win

Champion Will Take Charge was represented by his first winner in stylish fashion, as Tijori led throughout for a 3 1/4-length debut victory at Santa Anita on Friday.

The filly was given a Beyer Speed Figure of 77, the top number this year for a 2-year-old of either sex.

Will Take Charge, who stands at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky., has been among the commercial leaders of his class of freshman stallions. Tijori, bred in Kentucky by Rosilyn Polan, changed hands three times at public auction, each time proving a successful pinhook. The filly sold for $130,000 as a weanling at the Keeneland November breeding stock sale, for $260,000 at the Keeneland September yearling sale, and finally was purchased for Kaleem Shah at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co.’s March sale of 2-year-olds in training for $525,000. Simon Callaghan trains the filly.

Out of the stakes-placed Tapit mare Anchorage, Tijori is a half-sister to Grade 3-placed Chip Leader. Tijori’s granddam is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner and prominent sire Broken Vow, and it is also the extended family of graded stakes winner Winged Victory and successful sires Where’s the Ring and Service Stripe.