Champion Will Take Charge emerged from his runner-up finish in the June 14 Stephen Foster Handicap (gr. I) in good shape and could be aimed for a top race at Saratoga Race Course this summer.
"He came out of the race fine," said D. Wayne Lukas, who trains the Unbridled's Song colt for Willis Horton and Three Chimneys Farm. "We'll take a very serious look at the Whitney Invitational Handicap (gr. I, Aug. 2). This horse has an affinity for the Saratoga track."
Will Take Charge was voted last year's champion 3-year-old male after posting a 5-2-0 record from 11 starts that include his victory in the Travers Stakes (gr. I) at Saratoga.
The colt came into the Foster, Churchill Downs' marquee spring race for older runners, off a sixth-place finish to Foster winner Moonshine Mullin in the May 2 Alysheba Stakes (gr. II). He won the April 12 Oaklawn Park Handicap (gr. II) prior to that after posting runner-up finishes in the first two starts of the year: the Feb. 2 Donn Handicap (gr. I) and March 8 Santa Anita Handicap (gr. I).
Randy Patterson's Moonshine Mullin scored a 1 3/4-length victory in the $552,500 Stephen Foster, and trainer Randy Morse said he came out of the race well.
"He came out great, really great," Morse said. "We're just going to let this win sink in and we'll see what happens next."
Morse did mention he would probably take a string of horses back to Saratoga upon the completion of the Churchill spring meet, but did not say if Moonshine Mullin would be pointed to a specific race.
