Take Charge Milady upsets champion Immersive
Immersive, the champion 2-year-old of 2024, was defeated in her 3-year-old debut Saturday in the Monomoy Girl Overnight Stakes at Churchill Downs as Take Charge Milady held her off by a neck.
Immersive (2-5) broke sharply, but Anna's Promise soon sent forth to set the early pace. Immersive prompted the pace early inside of that foe, while Princess Aliyah and Immersive tracked in the next flight behind, rounding out the compact field of four. Into the backstretch Anna's Promise shook to a clear lead, while Immersive tracked just inside of Take Charge Milady.
Approaching the far turn, Immersive was bottled up behind Anna's Promise and inside of Take Charge Milady, giving the latter first run under jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. Manny Franco got Immersive through between Anna's Promise and the rail approaching the head of the stretch, setting up for a battle down the lane.
Take Charge Milady countered everything Immersive found. She stood her ground and even inched ahead in the final strides, crossing the wire a neck ahead of the favorite. It was 11 lengths back from Immersive to pacesetter Anna's Promise in third, with Princess Aliyah another three lengths back in fourth. Minnesota Munny and Running Away were both scratched.
Take Charge Milady finished the 1 1/16 miles over fast dirt in a final time of 1:43.17. She paid her backers $10.22 to win.
Take Charge Milady is a 3-year-old daughter of Take Charge Indy out of the Scat Daddy mare Price Too High. She is trained by Kenny McPeek for owners James Ball, Magdalena Racing and Kenneth Rhodes.
Saturday's win in the Monomoy Girl extended her record to 8: 3-2-0 with $538,669 in career earnings. It was her second victory in stakes company, as she also won the Martha Washington at Oaklawn in January. Three starts back she finished second behind La Cara in the Ashland, but she finished 12th in the Kentucky Oaks after dealing with foot issues in the lead-up to the race.
Immersive, undefeated in four starts as a juvenile for trainer Brad Cox, was taken off the Kentucky Oaks trail after being diagnosed with bone bruising in January. The Godolphin homebred returned to the work tab May 2, the same day her stablemate Good Cheer won the Kentucky Oaks.