Champion Will Take Charge retired to Three Chimneys

Louisville, KY (SportsNetwork.com) – Champion colt Will Take Charge has been retired to stud at Three Chimneys Farm in Kentucky. The 4-year-old suffered a “mild strain to a branch of his suspensory apparatus.”

Trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, Will Take Charge raced for Willis Horton and won last year’s Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old colt.

“Will Take Charge’s retirement is particularly disappointing as we were primed, as an older horse, to win the (Breeders’ Cup) Classic this year which we lost by a whisker last year,” Lukas said in a news release issued by Three Chimneys. “If the race were a mile-and-a-quarter and two inches, Will Take Charge’s career earnings would be at nearly $6 million. This horse has done what few other horses can do any more. He is a different kind of Unbridled’s Song. He defeated the best three-year-olds in the country in the Travers and then the best older horses in the Classic. He is a true Champion who ran to his blue-blooded pedigree. He proved himself to be the best of his generation. He is a proud addition to my resume.”

This year, Will Take Charge won the Oaklawn Handicap on April 12 and was sixth at Churchill Downs in the Alysheba Stakes and second in the Stephen Foster. The colt opened the season with a pair of second-place finishes in both the Donn and Santa Anita Handicaps. He was held out of the Woodward on Aug. 30 at Saratoga after finishing third four weeks earlier in Saratoga’s Whitney.

As a 3-year-old, Will Take Charge suffered a nose loss to Mucho Macho Man in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita. Prior to that race he won the Travers and Pennsylvania Derby and wrapped up the season with a win in Churchill’s Clark Handicap.

“Will Take Charge is a horse of a lifetime, and I can’t say enough about how ‘hickory’ he has been, starting 21 times all across the country against the stiffest competition time after time,” Horton said. “We have had the time of our lives with him, and met wonderful people all across America. He’s been a real fan favorite, and we think he’ll be a Kentucky breeders’ favorite too! I also can’t compliment Wayne enough on this exceptionally talented horse into a Champion. It’s been one heck of a ride.”

Ridden primarily by Luis Saez, the colt retires with seven wins and six seconds in 21 career starts for $3,924,648.

Will Take Charge is the fourth major thoroughbred to be retired from racing recently. In recent weeks Palace Malice, Game On Dude and Princess of Sylmar were taken out of competition.

Categorized in: Horses