Take Charge Brandi Out of Rebel With Chip
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Willis Horton's champion 2-year-old filly Take Charge Brandi will miss the March 14 Rebel Stakes (gr. II) at Oaklawn Park with a non-displaced bone chip in her right knee, an injury which will prevent her from making a start in the Longines Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) or Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), the Arkansas owner said March 10.
"We found it this morning," Horton said. "She was just a little sore and we wanted to find out what the problem was, so we had it X-rayed."
Take Charge Brandi, trained by Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, was to have faced male rivals for the first time in the 1 1/16-mile Rebel, which is also expected to mark the season debut of champion 2-year-old male American Pharoah. She will travel instead to Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital near Lexington to be treated by Dr. Larry Bramlage.
"She's going to Kentucky to Dr. Bramlage to be operated on," Horton said. "He's going to put a small pin in it, then we'll bring her back to Arkansas and she'll stay with Wayne.
"She's got to have stall rest for 30 days and 30 days of walking, then she can go back to training. It puts us into a fall campaign, is what it amounts to."
Take Charge Brandi has won her past four races, beginning with a victory in the 14 Hands Winery Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) at Santa Anita Park and continuing with the Delta Downs Princess Stakes (gr. III) at Delta Downs, Starlet Stakes (gr. I) at Los Alamitos, and Jan. 31 Martha Washington Stakes at Oaklawn.
"I was really looking forward to Saturday," Horton said of the Rebel. "But at least we caught it in time."