Photo: Oaklawn Park
Smarty Jones Stakes winner
Will Take Charge got back to work Thursday
morning with a half-mile breeze in 48 4/5 over a fast track. The time
was the second fastest of 30 at the distance with multiple stakes winner
Alternation posting the bullet.
“I was glad to see this from him,” said trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who
conditions the Unbridled’s Song colt for Willis D. Horton of Marshall,
AR. “I told the exercise rider to go in :49, so that was almost perfect.
It was just a maintenance half mile, but there were a couple of horses
who broke off in front of him and he was pretty aggressive. He’s come
back good and we’re still looking at the Southwest or Rebel with him.”
The $300,000 Southwest Stakes (G3) is Monday, Feb. 18, while the
$600,000 Rebel Stakes is Saturday, March 16. Both races are at the 1
1/16-mile distance and offer key points towards making the Kentucky
Derby field.