Take Charge Brandi holds on in the Martha Washington

It wasn’t exactly how a 2-5 shot is supposed to win, but for the fourth consecutive time Take Charge Brandi proved tough, and found the winner’s circle in another stakes race.

Going into today’s $100,000 Martha Washington Stakes at Oaklawn Park, Take Charge Brandi was the only stakes winner in the field, and her $1.6 million in career earnings towered over her five challengers. All of that is still true, but in Sarah Sis, we leave the Martha Washington knowing that two of these three-year-old fillies are for real.

The 2014 Juvenile Filly Champion was sent right to the lead by her first time rider, Jon Court, and carved out early fractions of :23.71 and :48.10, as a pair of long shots, Sweet Corinna and Perfect Fit, stayed close and kept her to task. The trio stayed in that position throughout the Oaklawn backstretch, but on the turn the second and third choices on the board made their respective moves.

With Sarah Sis, on the outside, and Indian Annie, in the middle, both coming on, it looked like Take Charge Brandi was in store for a race in her seasonal debut. The champ responded and spurted out as the field straightened for home, and the chances of her competition suddenly looked slim. But as the rest of the field fell behind, it was Sarah Sis who kept running hard. Still it looked like Take Charge Brandi, the 122 pound highweight, was on her way to a facile victory at the sixteenth pole, but Sarah Sis was not done yet.

The 7-1 third choice ducked to the inside of Take Charge Brandi and started making up serious ground to the point where 30 yards from the wire, it looked like she had a shot to pull the upset. Take Charge Brandi responded, like champions do, though, and gamely held off her talented challenger by a clear head. Owned by Arkansas native, Willis D. Horton, the winner completed the mile trip in 1:39.66.

The Martha Washington was Take Charge Brandi’s first start since of 2015, and first since winning an Eclipse Award. With the victory, the chestnut daughter of Giant’s Causeway raised her lifetime record to 9-5-1-0, but more importantly, she continued an impressive winning streak that includes the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, the $400,000 Delta Princess, the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes, and now the Martha Washington. All four stakes wins coming at different tracks for trainer, D. Wayne Lukas.

If all goes as planned, the Hall of Fame trainer plans to start Take Charge Brandi two more times at Oaklawn, the $150,000 Honeybee Stakes on March 7 and the $400,000 Fantasy Stakes on April 4, on her march towards Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Oaks on the first Friday in May, or … both the Arkansas and Kentucky Derbies could still come into play with a successful Honeybee run.

"Well, you may get to see it in the Arkansas Derby, but let's take it one race at a time,” said Horton. “Our big goal is the Kentucky Oaks. If things work out, we may run in the Arkansas Derby and possibly the Kentucky Derby with her because Wayne is good with fillies and he's won the Derby with fillies before." 

As for the runner-up, Sarah Sis, the daughter of Sharp Humor suffered her second consecutive hard knocking defeat at Oaklawn Park, having finished 2nd by a neck to Promise Me Silver in the Dixie Belle Stakes just 16 days ago. It would seem like a breakthrough for the Ingrid Mason-trained filly will happen sooner rather than later. Today, against a champion, she could not have been much more valiant in defeat.