Take Charge Indy’s comeback race the Fayette Stakes at Keeneland
According to trainer Patrick Byrne, the Grade 2, $150,000 Fayette Stakes is a good place to start for his 3-year-old trainee, Take Charge Indy, who making his return to the races after injuring his ankle and has been sidelined since spring.
Winner of the Grade 1 Florida Derby on the Triple Crown trail, Take Charge Indy will be making his first start against older horses in the Fayette Stakes, but the colt by A. P. Indy will be making his second start at Keeneland, over the venue’s Polytrack.
The last time Chuck and Maribeth Sandford’s colt raced there, it was in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity as a juvenile over 1 1/16 miles, and finished fourth to winner, Dullahan.
The Fayette Stakes has reeled in 11, 3-year-old and above colts and geldings to run over 1 1/8 miles over Keeneland’s synthetic surface on 27 October, 2012.
The 1 ¼ mile record holder of the Keeneland’s main track, Bill Mott trained 4-year-old colt, Newsdad will also fancy his chances of winning the Fayette Stakes.
Bred in Kentucky, Take Charge Indy was sidelined after his 19th place finish out of a field 20 in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby this May, as a bone chip was discovered in his left front ankle after the race, and for that he underwent surgery to get the chip removed.
"He's had three three-quarter-mile works (at Churchill) and has a lot of miles under him," Byrne said. "Calvin (Borel) worked him three works back and he went 1:13 and 1 and Calvin said he's ready."
Out of Dehere’s mare Take Charge Lady, Take Charge Indy returned to Byrne’s Barn on 2 August, 2012, and in the colt’s most recent workouts at Churchill Downs, he turned in five panels, and was clocked at 59 4/5 seconds, which turned to be the best over the distance out of 32 workers.
"He's ready to go," Byrne said. "Ideally, I'd like a mile and a sixteenth, but there are not too many places to go. The Clark Handicap (gr. I, Nov. 23 at Churchill) is the main objective, and I've got the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) in the back of my mind."
Rider Calvin Borel, who rode Take Charge Indy in his last three starts, and guided him to victory in the Florida Derby, will have the mount for the Fayette Stakes, and the duo will break from post number 5.
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