Taking the Blame
After Take Charge Brandi finished last in the Test Stakes at Saratoga last Saturday — the 2014 juvenile filly champion’s first start coming off an injury — trainer D. Wayne Lukas said the problem was all him:
“It was a bad training job,” Lukas said inside his office on the Oklahoma Training Track on Wednesday morning. “I misread her. I thought she was a lot tighter. She threw up a (four-furlong) 48 (-second) training work on the Oklahoma, and I thought, ‘Damn! She is way ahead of schedule.’ So, I backed up a little bit on her and I just misread her.”
The trainer also told Mike Kane:
“[S]he was dog-tired when she finished [in the Test]. She blew out of there and ran as far as I conditioned her … I wish had pushed her a little bit more and had her more ready,” Lukas said. “But the good news is that it’s fixable.”
She’s pointing to the Cotillion at Parx on September 19.
8/16/15 Addendum: Take Charge Brandi is back to work, breezing five furlongs on the Oklahoma track in 1:00.90, the fastest of four at the distance.
