Take Charge Indy helped Patrick Byrne to be in the national spotlight once again
Trainer Patrick Byrne was criticised early in the year regarding his 3-year-old Kentucky Derby contender, Take Charge Indy, when he skipped a race that seemed to be important for the development of a colt, who is aiming to run in the 138th running
of the Grade 1, $2 million Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on 5 May, 2012.
However, Byrne was aiming at another important prep race, more lucrative than the one he skipped called the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby, and as the day wound down on 31 March, 2012, all the people who crticised the trainer wanted to hideaway, because
Byrne showed that he is an experienced campaigner who knows his colt more than anyone else.
Everything said and done, Patrick Byrne via Take Charge Indy is back on the big stage.
Once known as the golden boy of racing, Patrick Byrne saddled many horses, and the one that has to be remembered was, Favorite Trick, who after Secretariat was the first 2-year-old colt to be voted Horse of the year, after being undefeated all year in 1997
and winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Awesome Again strung together a 6 for 6 under Byrne’s training, and he capped off the year with a win in the Breeder’ Cup Classic but was never voted Horse of the Year, because Skip Away was thought to be the better choice.
However, that was the end for his success trip, because he parted ways with owner Frank Stronach and he was found scrambling for his business with too little success from 2006 to 2010, and since 2008 he has just saddled 21 wins out of 151 starts, and 15
of them were maiden wins.
He is back in the spotlight, and Take Charge Indy gave Byrne his first grade 1 win in seven years after winning the Grade 1 Florida Derby.
“I don’t know of a trainer who does a better job pointing a horse for a specific race,” said Jill Byrne, who worked as Patrick’s assistant for many years and is now a racing analyst for Churchill Downs. “I see him preparing this horse and talking about this
horse’s preparation in the same way he talked about Awesome Again going into the Breeders’ Cup Classic. He is extremely confident.”
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