2014 Freshman Sires Profiles – Take Charge Indy

Take Charge Indy

A.P. Indy – Take Charge Lady, Dehere

Enters Stud at Winstar Farm 2014 for a Fee of $20,000

Take Charge Indy was born to high hopes.  A son of legendary sire A.P. Indy out of a multiple grade one winning mare who had sold for over four million dollars at the start of her breeding career there was plenty to like about Take Charge Indy.  He began his career at age two winning a maiden special weight and running second in the Arlington-Washington Futurity G3 from in three starts on synthetic surfaces.  In his only dirt start that year he finished a solid fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile behind Hansen and Union Rags.  Given some time off over the winter, Take Charge Indy returned to the races in a loaded Gulfstream Park allowance race where he finished second behind the highly regarded El Padrino.  He bounced out of that race to upset Union Rags in the Florida Derby G1.  Take Charge Indy immediately became one of the favorites for the Kentucky Derby.  He suffered an injury before the big dance and was off until the fall when a tough second to Shackleford in the Clark Handicap G1 was his best run.  At age four Take Charge Indy won once in five starts, taking the Alysheba Stakes G2 with a 109 Beyer Speed Figure, the top number he would run during his career.  He was also second in the Skip Away G3 and third in the Donn Handicap G1.  His season and career would end when he broke down in the Monmouth Cup G2.

In 2011 when Take Charge Indy was just beginning his racing career his sire A.P. Indy was pensioned.  At the time, A.P. Indy had sired over 135 stakes winners and multiple champions including Horse of the Year Mineshaft, Bernardini, Rags to Riches and Tempera.  Sons of A.P. Indy who have made an impact on the breed include Pulpit, the sire of eleven grade one winners including the flashy young stallion Tapit; Bermardini, the leading third crop sire of 2012; Mineshaft, the sire of over thirty stakes winners; Malibu Moon who has been in the top ten leading stallions for the past five years; and leading freshman sire Congrats among others.  All of those sires mentioned, save Bernardini, were produced from daughters of Mr. Prospector (Bernardini was produced from a mare by Mr. Prospector’s grandson Quiet American).  Take Charge Indy does have a strain of Mr. Prospector on his damside, his second dam Felicita is by a grandson of the fabled sire.

Take Charge Indy’s dam Take Charge Lady was a three time grade one winner in her career and earned over two million dollars on the racetrack.  As mentioned previously she was an expensive auction purchase while in foal for the first time.  That foal, Charming by Seeking the Gold, was considered to have a massive amount of talent but also fragility that limited her to only three starts.  Her next two foals were disappointments, winning only three times in twenty one combined starts.  Take Charge Indy is her fourth foal and while it is hard to upstage a grade one winning millionaire his younger brother Will Take Charge by Unbridled’s Song has done it – winning over three million dollars in just two seasons of racing.  He is also a top contender for an Eclipse Award this year.  Take Charge Lady’s family has been a relatively active one in recent years, her dam produced two other stakes winners and the family has produced Breeders’ Cup winner Chamberlain Bridge and champion Fantasy Lake.  Take Charge Indy is inbred 3×4 to Secretariat and 5x4x5 to Bold Ruler.

A.P. Indy is currently ranked second in the sim sire standings.  As previously mentioned he has excelled when crossed with Mr. Prospector mares in real life.  While he has had some success with Mr. Prospector and sons in the game he has done far better with mares by Sadler’s Wells and his sons.  He has also exceled with mares by Storm Cat or his son Giant’s Causeway and to a lesser extent with the Deputy Minister line (the sire of Take Charge Indy’s broodmare sire Dehere).  This leaves many options for breeding to Take Charge Indy as he would do well with the Mr. Prospector or Storm Cat lines.  There is always some question crossing the turfier sires like Sadler’s Wells with a runner who did his best on the dirt but it should be noted that Take Charge Indy was graded stakes placed over a synthetic course.  If a breeder wanted to play off of Take Charge Indy’s female family then crossing him with daughters of Unbridled’s Song would be intriguing.