Zipse: Charge It charges into prominence with Dwyer runaway

As promising as Charge It looked in his first three races, the Kentucky Derby turned out to be just as disappointing. Moving past the rough trip on the first Saturday in May, as well as an entrapped epiglottis that required a minor surgical procedure, he could not have looked any better in his return to the races in Saturday’s $250,000, Grade 3 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park.

Breaking from the rail under his new pilot Johnny Velazquez, the regally bred son of Tapit out of I'll Take Charge flashed good early speed and was involved in the one-mile race right away, stalking Fluid Situation through swift splits of :22.47 and :44.92.

When the Dwyer field came spinning out of the far turn, the 3-5 favorite quickly took command on the outside. From there, Charge It turned the Belmont stretch into his own private playpen.

Lengthening his advantage with every stride, he reached the wire in an excellent final time of 1:34.67. It was shades of Secretariat as his nearest rival was nowhere to be seen in the six-horse field. The final margin of victory was recorded as 23 devastating lengths.

Not only does the performance start off the second half of the year in fantastic fashion for the lightly raced Todd Pletcher trainee, but it also takes the sting off the news that stablemate Mo Donegal will miss the biggest races of the summer and fall because of bone bruising.

Owned and bred by Whisper Hill Farm, Charge It now looks like one of the horses to beat as we move closer to the Aug. 27 Travers Stakes (G1) at Saratoga. Whether the July 30 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2), also at the Spa, comes first, should be decided soon.

From a fantastic female family, it would appear the sky's the limit for the young star – maybe even more so than it did a few months ago.

Making his career debut one week after New Year’s Day, Charge It impressed when he battled throughout only to lose by a neck to a far more experienced horse, Volcanic, who would become graded-stakes placed in his next start. As they left the rest of the big maiden field in their dust, it was clear that the debuting runner-up had serious potential.

Five weeks later Charge It came back heavily favored in another one-mile maiden race at Gulfstream Park and lived up the buzz, winning off by more than eight lengths in racehorse time. It was enough to start thinking about the Kentucky Derby.

Once again, he took on far more experienced foes in his third career start, but this time it was in Grade 1 company. The result was solid, splitting White Abarrio and Simplification for second in the Florida Derby.

Even in that result, though, Charge It looked like a horse with plenty more under the hood. He was green down the stretch and leveled off late to finish with a flourish.

As so often happens with inexperienced colts at the Kentucky Derby, things didn't go well at Churchill Downs. With multiple excuses, as we later found out, he struggled home in 17th.

We now can officially draw a line through his lone poor performance. It’s a shame where it took place, but with Saturday’s Dwyer spectacle, Charge It is very much back in prominence.

In fact, the performance was so good that he now replaces his sidelined, Belmont Stakes winning stablemate as one of the top contenders for Saratoga’s mid-summer Derby.

As inconclusive as the first half of the year was for the 3-year-old males, Charge It could be the horse who takes over the division with a big Travers win. After Saturday there can be little doubt that he is on his way to fulfilling all that potential.