Andrew Caulfield, March 19, 2013-Will Take Charge Ultimately Unbridled=s death at the age of 14 in 2001 PEDIGREE INSIGHTS makes it harder to compare his record with that of his B Y A N D R E W C A U L F I E L D son, who is 20 this year. Suffice it to say that he left 12 Grade I winners and sired 8% black-type winners, Saturday, Oaklawn Park while Unbridled=s Song has so far sired 15 Grade I REBEL S.-GII, $600,000, OPX, 3-16, 3yo, 1 1/16m, winners and has a similar percentage of black-type 1:45, ft. winners. Unbridled gave us three Breeders= Cup Grade I 1--@WILL TAKE CHARGE, 122, c, 3, by Unbridled=s Song winners and so has Unbridled=s Song, thanks to 1st Dam: Take Charge Lady (MGISW, Unbridled Elaine, Unrivaled Belle and Midshipman. $2,480,377), by Dehere One big difference, though, has been the respective 2nd Dam: Felicita, by Rubiano records of father and son where the Triple Crown is 3rd Dam: Grand Bonheur, by Blushing Groom (Fr) concerned. Unbridled=s Song started favorite to emulate ($425,000 yrl '11 KEESEP). O-Willis D Horton; Unbridled=s victory in the Kentucky Derby, but B-Eaton (KY); T-D Wayne Lukas; J-Jon Kenton Court. weakened from second to fifth in the stretch. One $360,000. Lifetime Record: 7-3-1-0, $545,371. *1/2 theory attributed his performance to his having done to Take Charge Indy (A.P. Indy), GISW, $871,824. too much in his work three days before the Derby, Werk Nick Rating: A+. Click for the when he covered a half-mile in :46. eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Whatever the cause, Unbridled=s Song was never again asked to tackle more than a mile and an eighth during a career which ended with a victory in the Some 10 years ago, I pointed out in this column that Olympic H. over seven furlongs. Unbridled=s Song=s career had mirrored that of his sire Unbridled=s Breeders= Cup win came in the Classic Unbridled in several ways. over a mile and a quarter, and he subsequently had a Both father and son won the Florida Derby and both profound impact on the Triple Crown races. Thanks to landed one of the highly coveted prizes on Breeders= Grindstone, Red Bullet and Empire Maker, he sired Cup Day. The similarities extended to the early stages winners of each of the three legs, with Grindstone of their stallion careers. Both made a spectacular start, going on to sire Birdstone, a Belmont S. winner who in with a pair of Grade I winners, including a Breeders= turn has sired winners of the Kentucky Derby and the Cup winner, in their first crop. Belmont. Although Unbridled=s Song=s daughter Eight Belles ran Will Take Charge follows Graydar as the second a great race to be second to Big Brown in 2008, none graded stakes winner of the year to represent the of Unbridled=s Song=s sons have so far managed to Unbridled=s Song/Dehere cross--a cross which has only finish in the top three in the Kentucky Derby. seven representatives of racing age. Owners of mares This is rather surprising. Despite his size, Unbridled=s by Dehere were no doubt encouraged by Unbridled=s Song matured quickly enough to win the Breeders= Cup Song=s solid results with mares by Dehere=s sire Deputy Juvenile, the Florida Derby and the Wood Memorial. Minister. By the end of 2006, Unbridled=s Song was Plenty of his best winners have also landed graded credited with 11% stakes winners among his first stakes at two or in the run-up to the Triple Crown, with 19 foals out of Deputy Minister mares, including the Midshipman, Old Fashioned, Rockport Harbor, Winslow Grade II winner Last Song. This cross has maintained Homer, Buddha, Eurosilver, Mission Impazible, its success pretty well, adding the Grade III winner Songandaprayer and Domestic Dispute among them. Keep Up to its tally, and there are now four stakes Soundness, or lack of it, was an issue with some of winners among the cross=s 44 foals, which is 9%. these, but this doesn=t appear to be an issue with Will The Dehere mares are completely overshadowing Take Charge, the latest Unbridled=s Song to set out on those figures. Six of their seven foals by Unbridled=s the long and hazardous Song have won and they also feature Strike It Rich, road to the Kentucky winner of the GIII Boiling Springs S. over 1 1/16 miles Derby. The colt=s on Monmouth=s turf track in 2010. Graydar, of course, hard-fought victory over won the GI Donn H. over a mile and an eighth in stablemate Oxbow in February, with the late-foaled 4-year-old (born May 16) the GII Rebel S. came showing plenty of potential. Interestingly, Graydar and on his seventh start Strike It Rich are both inbred to Mr. Prospector, the (which makes him a inbreeding being 4x4 and 4x3, respectively, whereas veritable novice Will Take Charge is Unbridled=s Song=s first stakes compared to his winner inbred to Mr. Prospector=s sizeable son trainer=s last Kentucky Will Take Charge Coady Fappiano, the inbreeding being 3x4. Derby winner, Photography Three graded stakes winners from only seven foals is Charismatic, who was a very striking achievement on Unbridled=s Song=s part racing for the 15th time). and more daughters of Dehere are clearly called for, Soundness aside, we still have to establish whether especially ones with a line of Mr. Prospector. I should Will Take Charge has the necessary stamina and class add that it would do no harm if the daughter of Dehere to win a mile-and-a-quarter Classic. Of Unbridled=s was also well above average on the track, as Strike It Song=s Grade I winners, Unbridled Elaine, Unrivaled Rich=s dam Belle of Perintown was a Grade II winner Belle, Buddha, Magnificent Song, Thorn Song, Splended and Will Take Charge=s dam is none other than the Blended and Graydar all won prestigious races over a redoubtable Take Charge Lady. This popular filly=s mile and an eighth. The same applies to plenty of their career figures stood at 11 victories and seven seconds fellow graded winners. As so often happens in from 22 starts. American racing, it is a somewhat different story over This consistency was reflected in Take Charge Lady=s the extended distance of a mile and a quarter. official ratings. Victory in three of her five juvenile However, Political Force (GI Suburban H.), Octave starts earned her an Experimental Free Handicap (GI CCA Oaks) and Rare Gift (GIII Ladies H.) all showed ranking of 115, then the 3-year-old Take Charge Lady that the occasional Unbridled=s Song can last the Derby achieved a figure of 116 on the 2002 International distance. Classifications, followed by 115 in 2003. She twice won the GI Spinster S. over a mile and an eighth and WILL TAKE CHARGE, c, 2010 she was second in the GII Delaware H. over a mile and a quarter. Fappiano Mr. Prospector Killaloe Take Charge Lady originally cost $175,000 as a Unbridled yearling, but she proved so successful that her price Gana Facil Le Fabuleux (Fr) Unbridled’s Charedi soared to $4.2 million as a 5-year-old in 2004, when she was sold in foal to Seeking The Gold. The Seeking Song Caro (Ire) Fortino (Fr) Chambord (GB) The Gold filly she was carrying repaid $3.2 million Trolley Song towards her purchase price when sold as a yearling. Lucky Spell Lucky Mel Incantation Two years later, her yearling filly by Storm Cat made $800,000. Bearing in mind that the Seeking The Gold Deputy Minister Vice Regent Take Charge Mint Copy filly won only once and the daughter of Storm Cat Dehere failed to win, it is hardly surprising that buyers failed to Lady Sister Dot Secretariat MGISW, Sword Game maintain such enthusiasm for Take Charge Lady=s yearlings. Her A.P. Indy colt RNA=d at $80,000 in $2,480,377 Felicita Rubiano Fappiano 6 Fls, 4 Wnrs, Ruby Slippers 2010 and then her Unbridled=s Song colt made 10 Fls, 4 Wnrs, $425,000 in 2011, a year when two other Unbrdidled=s 2 GSW 1 GSW, 2 SW Grand Bonheur Blushing Groom (Fr) 11 Fls, 1 GSP Director Song yearlings achieved seven-figure sums. Fortunately, these two colts have revived Take Charge Lady=s broodmare career. The A.P. Indy colt is her GI Florida Derby winner Take Charge Indy and, obviously, the Unbridled=s Song colt is Will Take Charge. The mare also has a 2012 filly by Indian Charlie. Will Take Charge=s broodmare sire Dehere was injured before he had the chance of tackling the Kentucky Derby, but he had defeated Go For Gin, Ride The Rails and Holy Bull in the GII Fountain of Youth S. over 1 1/16 miles. His pedigree, which features Deputy Minister, Secretariat and Damascus, suggests he would have stayed further. Dehere=s nomadic career as a stallion means he has broodmare daughters on several continents and they have enjoyed Group 1 success in Australia (where they range from the sprinter-miler Forensics to the dual Derby winner Rebel Raider) and the U.S. (where Graydar and Will Take Charge were preceded by the champion sprinter Midnight Lute and the smart 2012 juvenile So Many Ways).