Starlet Next for Lukas, Take Charge Brandi

She's in the driver's seat already, but a win in the $350,000 Starlet Stakes (gr. I) Dec. 13 would mean the checkered flag in the juvenile filly Eclipse Award race for Take Charge Brandi.

The 14 Hands Winery Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (gr. I) winner drew post 6 in a field of seven for the 1 1/16-mile Starlet at Los Alamitos Race Course, the final grade I race for 2-year-old fillies of 2014. The Starlet, contested for 33 years at Hollywood Park before moving to the Orange County track this year, is race 8 on the Saturday program with a 4 p.m. PST scheduled post time.



The former Hall of Fame Quarter Horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas, a record seven-time Starlet winner, returns to Los Alamitos with Take Charge Brandi. She scored the BC Juvenile Fillies at odds of 61-1 Nov. 1 and came back three weeks later to add the Delta Downs Princess (gr. III) crown to her record this season.

Lukas was based at Los Alamitos for 10 years, training 23 quarter horse world champions, before he switched to Thoroughbreds full-time in 1978.



Lukas trains the blossoming Take Charge Brandi for Willis Horton, who paid $435,000 for the chestnut daughter of Giant's Causeway   as a yearling at the 2013 Keeneland September sale. She was bred in Kentucky by Charming Syndicate out of the Seeking the Gold mare Charming, a daughter of Broodmare of the Year Take Charge Lady.



Take Charge Brandi had been unimpressive in three starts since finishing second in the Schuylerville Stakes (gr. III) in July before shocking the Juvenile Fillies, which she led gate-to-wire at Santa Anita Park to win by a half length. She returned Nov. 22 at Delta Downs as the favorite in the $500,000 Princess to tally by 1 1/2 lengths, running her seasonal mark to three wins in seven starts with earnings of $1,410,126.



Victor Espinoza, who rode Take Charge Brandi in the Breeders' Cup, has the call for Lukas. The 79-year-old "Coach" could become the first to win grade I races at Los Alamitos as both a Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred trainer.



The same applies to fellow Hall of Fame conditioner Bob Baffert, also a very successful Quarter Horse trainer before he switched breeds well over 20 years ago. A two-time winner of the Hollywood Starlet, Baffert's representative Saturday will be Maybellene, who is owned by his wife Jill.



A daughter of Lookin At Lucky  , Maybellene has won twice in six races and stretches out again after finishing second in the listed Desi Arnaz Stakes at seven furlongs Nov. 16 at Del Mar.



Trainer Todd Pletcher ships in Feathered from New York for Eclipse Toroughbred Partners. The Indian Charlie filly makes her first start since finishing fourth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies, one length behind Take Charge Brandi after pressing the winner in the stretch and flattening out. Feathered was third in the Frizette Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont Park prior to the Breeder's Cup.



Also coming out of the BC Juvenile Fillies is the six-race maiden Danette, who ran fifth, finishing 1 1/2 lengths behind Take Charge Brandi, after being jostled at the start and trailing the field early. Trained by Keith Desormeaux for Don't Tell My Wife Stables, the Curlin lass finished third in the Chandelier Stakes (gr. I) at Santa Anita Sept. 27.



Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, who won the Hollywood Starlet in 2009 with Blind Luck and two years later with Killer Graces, will send out Achiever's Legacy and Majestic Presence.



Owned by a partnership that includes Gillian Campbell, Margaret Celluci, Dan Horowitz, Richard Robertson, Marty Joseph, and her trainer, Achiever's Legacy was 9-1 when she won the seven-furlong Desi Arnaz, rallying from last in the field of four.



The win was the second in five starts for the City Zip   filly. Achiever's Legacy is 1-for-4 since being privately purchased by her current connections. The Kentucky bred chestnut broke her maiden for trainer Joseph Catanese III in her June 27 debut on the turf at Gulfstream Park. She has Drayden Van Dyke aboard from the rail.



Owned by Mark DeDomenico and North America Thoroughbred Horse Company, Majestic Presence is 1-for-5 after finishing ninth of 12 in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. The daughter of Majestic Warrior  finished third in the Delta Princess, 2 1/2 lengths behind Take Charge Brandi.



Don't Blame Me is the only member of the lineup with experience at Los Alamitos. The daughter of 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Blame   finished second behind Morning Coffee in a maiden race there Sept. 14.



Trained by Kristin Mulhall for breeder Alan S. Kline and American Equistock Racing, Don't Blame Me has one win in seven races. In her most recent appearance, the Maryland bred was third at 14-1 in the Jimmy Durante Stakes (gr. IIIT) in her turf debut Nov. 29 at Del Mar.



Achiever's Legacy, Danette, Don't Blame Me, Feathered, and Majestic Presence were supplemented to the Starlet for $7,500, with an additional $7,500 required to start.