Take Charge Brandi heading for Kentucky Oaks

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Louisville, KY (SportsNetwork.com) - Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Take Charge Brandi completed her 2014 campaign with a solid victory in the Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos on Dec. 13, now the filly is headed for Churchill Downs.

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who trains the 2-year-old for Willis Horton, has Take Charge Brandi pointed toward the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill on Friday, May 1.

"Right now, she's Oaks bound," Lukas said Tuesday morning at Oaklawn Park.

Before starting in the 1 1/8-mile companion race to the Kentucky Derby, Take Charge Brandi will start twice at Oaklawn Park in the $150,000 Honeybee Stakes on March 7 and the $400,000 Fantasy Stakes on April 4.

"The Honeybee/Fantasy would be the obvious choice," Lukas said. "January and February will go fast. Our obvious goal is the Oaks."

In recent years it has become common for the better 3-year-old fillies to, at least once, take on their male counterparts. Lukas has also considered that for Take Charge Brandi.

"Damn near did it the other day," Lukas said of Take Charge Brandi starting in the Los Alamitos Futurity. "I'm glad I didn't because that race came up really tough. But I thought about it. She was squealing and playing and jumping in the stall. I said, 'It won't be the first time I've done that."

Take Charge Brandi broke her maiden in her debut at Churchill Downs in June. She was second at Saratoga in the Schuylerville and fifth in the Adirondack Stakes. The filly followed with a fifth in the Pocahontas at Churchill and was eighth in Keeneland's Alcibiades.

The filly won the Juvenile Fillies at Santa Anita as a 61-1 longshot, but followed by winning the Delta Downs Princess Stakes on Nov. 22 and the Starlet three weeks later.

The filly has won four of eight starts for $1,620,126.