Risk Taking was a 'classy' colt from the start

Risk Taking made his stakes debut a winning one in Saturday’s Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct Racetrack.

Following the Withers, trainer Chad Brown praised Barry Eisaman, who broke the bay colt owned by Klaravich Stables. He said the professional performance by the son of Medaglia d’Oro came as no surprise.

“He’s always been one we thought highly of and even when Barry Eisaman had him in Ocala, he’s always liked him,” Brown said. “Everyone that’s touched the horse has commented about how classy he was, the ability that he has and how he will get better with time and distance.”

After being purchased for $240,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Risk Taking was shipped to Eisaman Equine in Williston, Fla., just outside of Ocala, where he remained until the following summer.

Eisaman said it didn’t take long for Risk Taking to find his footing.

“He was just a very classy horse,” said Eisaman, who also broke previous Withers winners El Areeb (2017) and Max Player (2020). “He always acted like a high school student with a college student mentality. Everything we asked him to do, he acted like he had done it a million times already.”

Eisaman, who specializes in breaking, training and rehabilitating horses for a number of leading owners, said he is confident in being able to recognize a promising young horse by observing their day-to-day routine in his program.

“I watch a lot of horses go through this stage of their life, from the first day a saddle is set on them to when they’re ready to go to their trainer,” Eisaman said. “To compare a horse like Risk Taking to the masses, every time a new task was put before him he would just go on and do it like he had done it before.

“We never know how good a horse is until the last, final test is taken,” added Eisaman. “You can have horses do everything right, but you don’t know how it pans out until they’re in a field of horses and have some adversity thrown their way. He’s stepped up and has made all of his early talents count.”

Eisaman added that Risk Taking, who picked up 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points for his Withers win, appears to be a horse that can get a distance of ground.

“He really makes it look like getting the classic distances won’t be much of a problem,” said Eisaman. “He’s one of the ones that has now thrown his hat in the ring for Derby consideration. He’s very Medaglia d’Oro looking. He’s tall, leggy and looks like he would love two turns.”

Eisaman has enjoyed previous Triple Crown-trail success having helped to develop 2012 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I’ll Have Another, who went through the Eisaman Equine consignment at the 2011 OBS April Sale as a 2-year-old before being sold to Dennis O’Neill for $35,000.

Eisaman said the thrill and feeling of accomplishment of developing a rising star never gets old.

“We’ve been doing this a long time, and we’re very fortunate to have a client base that play at the top end of our sport. We get a lot of good quality prospects in and we try to get them safely to the races,” Eisaman said. “It’s fun. Me and my whole family are all fans of this sport, so it’s fun to watch them along the Derby trail. There’s a lot of tests to pass between now and Derby day, but to have one that looks like a promising contender is just awesome.”

Risk Taking is expected to make his next start in the $750,000 Wood Memorial (G2) on April 3 at Aqueduct. That 1 1/8-mile contest is a 100-40-20-10 Derby qualifier.