Eye on the Oaks: Take Charge Brandi

Take Charge Brandi wins the Grade 1 Starlet Stakes at Los Alamitos Race Course (Photo by Benoit Photo)
The sister race to the Kentucky Derby, the $1-million, 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks is held annually at Churchill Downs on the Friday before the Derby and restricted to 3-year-old fillies (young female horses). Eye on the Oaks, which will run through the 2015 edition of the race, takes a closer look at fillies who have won important races and could make an impact as we move toward the first Friday in May.
This week we look at Take Charge Brandi, winner of the 2014 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and a leading contender to take home champion 2-year-old filly honors at this weekend's Eclipse Awards.

Kentucky Oaks hopeful Take Charge Brandi has been running – and winning – since June of her 2-year-old season. A longshot victory in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies was followed with two more graded stakes wins to complete a freshman season that will likely result in a championship when the Eclipse Awards are announced this Saturday. She sits atop the Road to the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard with 30 points to her credit.
Racing Résumé
Take Charge Brandi began her career with a maiden victory at Churchill Downs, earning an 85 Equibase Speed Figure, and would compete in graded stakes company for the remainder of the year. The filly followed that initial victory with a runner-up effort in the Grade 3 Schuylerville Stakes at Saratoga, her first graded stakes try.
TAKE CHARGE BRANDI AFTER WINNING THE BREEDERS' CUP JUVENILE FILLIES

Photo by Eclipse Sportswire
After a trio of disappointing efforts including an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades at Keeneland, Take Charge Brandi rewarded her connections’ confidence when entered in the $2-million, Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Sent off at 61.70-to-1, the flashy chestnut broke on top and made all the pace in the 1 1/16-mile event, cruising home a half-length winner under a hand ride from jockey Victor Espinoza. She earned a then-career-best 95 speed figure for the effort.
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas is not one to shy from a challenge, and the filly’s course for the final two months of the year was plotted with a 2-year-old championship in mind despite just two wins from her six starts through November 1. Take Charge Brandi headed to Louisiana in November, where she won the Grade 3 Delta Downs Princess Stakes by a length and a half, showing that her Breeders’ Cup tally was no fluke.
TAKE CHARGE BRANDI WINS THE DELTA DOWNS PRINCESS

Photo by Coady Photography
But she wasn’t done yet. Take Charge Brandi again shipped across the country, this time to Los Alamitos Race Course in southern California, where she would face six other 2-year-old fillies in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 1 Starlet Stakes on Dec. 13. As she is wont to do, Take Charge Brandi shot from the gate and set the pace while stalked by Maybellene. It turned into a three-horse race in late stretch as Feathered closed along the rail and Maybellene fought back on the outside, but Take Charge Brandi showed her toughness, refusing to surrender. She earned a career-high 100 speed figure while prevailing by a half-length.
Running Style
Take Charge Brandi’s best races come when she is on the lead. Only twice has the filly been taken off the pace, and she finished fifth in both of those races. Like last week’s Seduire, this front-running style could be troublesome if Take Charge Brandi has pace pressure or traffic trouble. Thus far she has done well at stretching her speed and has proven to be very game when challenged in the stretch.
Pedigree
Take Charge Brandi was a $435,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase for owner Willis Horton, and with a page like hers it’s easy to see why. Class and routing ability abound in her pedigree. The daughter of leading sire Giant’s Causeway is out of Charming, who is herself the daughter of 2013 Broodmare of the Year Take Charge Lady. Giant’s Causeway is a three-time champion sire whose progeny include 28 Grade 1 winners on dirt and turf and 152 stakes winners as of Jan. 12, 2015.
Charming was a $3.2 million purchase as a yearling but she was injured and retired after just three starts. Her other foal to race is Siete C who most recently captured three consecutive races at 1 1/16 miles on the turf. With Giant’s Causeway as her sire and a half-brother who likes the turf, Take Charge Brandi could make things interesting should her connections opt to try her on the grass later in her career.
Take Charge Lady won seven graded stakes and $2.48 million in her racing career. She had no trouble stretching out and was a two-time winner of the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes at 1 1/8 miles. Take Charge Lady’s first foal was Charming, though her best offspring wouldn’t come for a few years. Grade 1-winning Take Charge Indy, by A.P. Indy, and champion Will Take Charge, by Unbridled’s Song were foaled in 2009 and 2010. Both of those colts won at the top level at distances longer than a mile and are now sires.
WILL TAKE CHARGE (CENTER) WINS THE 2013 TRAVERS STAKES

Photo by Ecliipse Sportswire 
Take Charge Brandi’s third dam, Felicita, was unraced but produced stakes winners Eventail and Commendation in addition to Take Charge Lady. Graded stakes winner Straight Story and stakes horses Mobile and Northern Giant also appear under Take Charge Brandi’s third dam.
Not only does Take Charge Brandi have proven ability at the highest level, she comes complete with a black type-laden pedigree rife with distance ability. If she continues to develop as a 3-year-old and stays in peak form, she will be formidable on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks.