TAPIT’s Will Take It earned a first stakes win in his third try on Sunday when he won the Hanshin S. at Churchill Downs.
Winning three of his last five races, Will Take It was sent back up to the stakes level by Dallas Stewart and it paid off. The colt broke well from the second widest gate before settling as one of the back runners in the one-mile race.
The field was tightly bunched down the backstretch and that worked well for the eventual winner, who found himself just behind the leaders coming into the stretch. Swung wide to circle the field in the stretch, Will Take It was in front just in time to win by a head at the line.
This was the fifth win in 17 starts for the colt, who runs for his breeder Whisper Hill Farm alongside Willis Horton Racing.
The regally-bred Will Take It is the first runner out of Lady Take Charge, a daughter of the great Take Charge Lady.
Take Charge Lady was a three-time Grade 1 winner, but her best contribution to the sport likely came in the breeding shed. The mare produced champion Will Take Charge and Grade 1 winners As Time Goes By and Take Charge Indy. Her daughters have been just as successful with TAPIT’s son and studmate CHARGE IT produced by one daughter and champion Take Charge Brandi produced by another, with that champion producing TAPIT’s stakes winning Courvoisier.
Take Charge Brandi is also a half-sister to three-time Grade 1 winner Omaha Beach and Grade 1 placed Courage Under Fire and the dam of TAPIT’s stakes winning Tapit Jenallie.
This is the second stakes winner in a week for TAPIT with Enforceable winning a Grade 1 last weekend.