Will Take Charge will try Saratoga reboot again

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – It was here last summer where Will Take Charge began to turn his fortunes around, using a victory in the Grade 1 Travers as a launching pad to an eventual divisional championship.

After losses in his last two starts, Will Take Charge is back at Saratoga and, according to his Hall of Fame trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, is thriving once again. On Monday, Will Take Charge had his first local workout since last summer, breezing five furlongs in 59.36 seconds over the Oklahoma training track, the fastest of 20 works at the distance.

Will Take Charge is pointing to the Grade 1, $1.5 million Whitney Invitational Handicap on Aug. 2.

“I let the exercise girl work him; I told her let him finish up some, and that’s exactly what she did,” Lukas said. “That was obviously a very good work. Having said that, I just wanted him to get a good blow. I was real pleased. He took a couple of deep breaths, came home. He’s good. He’ll have a couple more [works] anyhow. I want to get him on his toes a little bit.”

Will Take Charge was well beaten in all three Triple Crown races in 2013. At Saratoga, he ran second to Palace Malice in the Jim Dandy Stakes before winning the Travers by a nose over Moreno. Will Take Charge trained at Saratoga after the meet ended before shipping to Parx to win the Pennsylvania Derby.

“He likes it up here,” Lukas said. “I don’t know if it’s the fall [like] weather, the surface, or what. We’ve increased his grain, we’ve seen more energy, he’s filled out. A couple of other trainers were standing on the rail the other day and said, ‘Damn, he holds his weight well.’ ”

In five starts this year, Will Take Charge has a win and three seconds. He won the Oaklawn Handicap over Revolutionary and in his two most recent starts was sixth in the Alysheba and second in the Stephen Foster, both to Moonshine Mullin at Churchill Downs.

Gary Stevens was aboard Will Take Charge for his last two starts. With Stevens announcing that he is in need of a knee replacement, Lukas said he will put Luis Saez back on Will Take Charge. Saez first got on Will Take Charge in the Travers and has finished first or second on the colt in all seven races he’s been aboard.

Others pointing to the Whitney include Palace Malice, the winner of four graded stakes in 2014; Moreno; and Departing, last year’s Super Derby winner and most recently the third-place finisher in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster.