Will Take Charge Gallops at Gulfstream

Will Take Charge, the 123-pound highweight in Sunday's $500,000 Donn Handicap (G1) at Gulfstream Park, greeted the dawn this morning with a spin around the main track.             

The big chestnut will be making his first start since sealing his Eclipse Award-winning campaign in the Clark Handicap (G1) at Churchill Downs on November 30. He had been training strongly at Oaklawn Park, breezing six furlongs from the gate in 1:14.80 on January 26 and a half-mile in :49.80 this past Sunday. Trainer D. Wayne Lukas put the son of Unbridled's Song on a Florida-bound van on Monday, and Will Take Charge appears to have handled the transition to summery climes.            

"He's been doing surprisingly well," assistant trainer John Sica said. "I drove him here myself, so I would know. He's easy-going and nothing really fazes him; he's got such a good mind. He jogged a little and galloped a mile and three-eighths. It seemed like he got over the track well, and the exercise rider said he felt good."            

Among Will Take Charge's rivals in the Donn will be River Seven, the versatile gelding who capped his sophomore year with a track-record setting performance in the Harlan's Holiday Stakes at Gulfstream on December 22. Trainer Nick Gonzalez opted to freshen up his charge in the interim.            

"We were making a plan, and 46 or 47 days seemed like an eternity," Gonzalez explained. "You just want everything to go smooth and you don't want any bumps in the road, but fortunately we've had a good month and a half. Because he'd had such a long year, I thought it might be best to space his races out. Going in a Grade 1 and taking that step up, I wanted to have him as fresh as can be. Fortunately, today is entry day, and everything has gone right."            

The 4-year-old tuned up for the Donn with a five-furlong move in 1:00.30 at Gulfstream on Sunday morning. Joe Rocco Jr., who piloted River Seven in the Harlan's Holiday, was in the irons for that workout.            

"I was really happy with the way he went last time - we didn't ask him to do a whole lot," Gonzalez added. "He's a really smart horse and he works himself. He trains himself and I have very little to do with it. He's a pretty easy horse to ride and to rate. He's had three different riders in his last three stakes races and it's not like I have to stand there for 10 minutes in the paddock explaining how to ride him. He's simple."            

Gonzalez expects that River Seven will work out his usual handy trip.            

"He's got enough speed to get himself in a good position, whether he's inside or outside," Gonzalez remarked. "I'm not really worried about field size or post position--that's not really a concern for me. I just want to get him to the race the way he is right now."