Warrior’s Charge Makes His 2021 Debut In Thursday Allowance At Oaklawn

If Warrior's Charge wants to stick around for major stakes race next month at Oaklawn, he'll have to make his case Thursday for co-owners Ten Strike Racing and Madaket Stables and trainer Brad Cox.

The multiple graded stakes winner will make his 2021 debut in the eighth race, a one-mile allowance for older horses that carries a hefty $107,000 purse. The speedy 5-year-old son of Munnings hasn't started since finishing eighth in the $100,000 Ack Ack Stakes (G3) Sept. 26 at Churchill Downs.

“It's obviously the starting point for the year,” Clay Sanders, a founding partner in Ten Strike, said Tuesday morning. “Probably not exactly the distance or race we wanted, but if we could get a stake race at Oaklawn the two options were the Oaklawn Mile or the Oaklawn Handicap. If we want to consider the Oaklawn Handicap, we didn't want to run him not having a prep race. Going a mile and an eighth off the bench is pretty tough. We'll give him a start and kind of see where he is fitness-wise. He's not 100 percent cranked, but we'll see where we're at.”

The $400,000 Oaklawn Mile is April 10. The $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) is April 17.

Warrior's Charge was among Oaklawn's leading two-turn older horses last year after winning the $500,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) at 1 1/16 miles and finishing second in the $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2). Following a subpar performance in the Ack Ack, Warrior's Charge was sent to Florida horseman Paul Sharp for a break. Sharp's farm is the go-to vacation spot for horses connected to noted bloodstock agent Liz Crow, who is also Ten Strike's stable manager. Ten Strike privately purchased then-unraced Warrior's Charge from his breeder, Al Shaquab Racing, after Crow watched the horse train at McKathan Brothers Training Center in Florida.

In 12 career starts, the consistent Warrior's Charge has compiled a 5-1-3 record and bankrolled $836,310. Warrior's Charge also finished fourth in the $1.5 million Preakness Stakes (G1) – beaten 2 ½ lengths – in 2019 and fourth in the $500,000 Met Mile (G1) – beaten two lengths – July 4 at Belmont Park. Warrior's Charge faded to eighth in the Ack Ack after dueling through a demanding :44.85 half-mile.

“We think he was a little over the top, as far as he'd been in training for over a year,” Sanders said. “Obviously, we wanted to go to the Breeders' Cup with him. Obviously, off that result we didn't feel confident going into the race and even at that point, we didn't know Brad had Knicks Go. Exit an allowance race and then kind of showed himself (winning Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile). Probably in hindsight, it (Ack Ack) wasn't the right spot because it was a one-turn race and there was a ton of speed in the race. He went out crazy fast and just didn't have anything left in the tank. Brad had kind of mentioned after the race that he wasn't training as sharply as he was earlier in the year. We wanted to give him a break there so we would have at least some shot of making Oaklawn.”

Warrior's Charge rejoined Cox's Fair Grounds division in January and has had seven published workouts there since Feb. 5, including three 5-furlong moves this month. Warriors Charge arrived Monday in Hot Springs.

“We'd liked to have made the Essex or the Razorback, but time just got a little short on us and didn't get him ready in time,” Sanders said.

The Razorback and Essex are two major local steppingstones to the Oaklawn Handicap, a race Cox said he covets. Cox has never won the Oaklawn Handicap.

Memphis, Tenn.-based Ten Strike offers fractional ownership on its syndicate side (founding partner Marshall Gramm and Sanders are the claiming arm) and “probably 35 to 38” have a share in Warrior's Charge, Sanders said. The majority of the owners are from Arkansas, Sanders said, meaning a victory in the Oaklawn Mile or Oaklawn Handicap would be a big deal for them, too.

“But then you include family and spouses and friends – you saw the winner's circle for the Razorback,” Sanders said. “It gets pretty big pretty quick in Arkansas.”

Sanders, a Mountain Home, Ark., native, said adding a Grade 1 victory to the resume of Warrior's Charge is a goal this year since it would boost his value as a stallion prospect.

“The tricky part with this horse is that probably a mile and a sixteenth is like his optimal distance,” Sanders said. “They don't have any Grade 1's at a mile and a sixteenth, so a mile and an eighth is probably at the tail end of his. But it wouldn't even be crazy at maybe a mile and a quarter, if he could get out on a slow pace, some of these five-horse fields, maybe he could walk the dog on the front end. Those are the things we'll kind of explore.”

In addition to the Razorback and powerful front-running maiden- and first-level allowance victories at the 2019 Oaklawn meeting, Warrior's Charge (via disqualification for stretch interference) captured the $200,000 Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3) Aug. 22 at Monmouth Park.

Warrior's Charge is the 8-5 program favorite Thursday, with Florent Geroux named to ride from post 6. Also entered are Mailman Money, My Sixth Sense, Home Base, Guest Suite and Final Jeopardy.

Probable post time is 4:40 p.m. (Central).

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Warrior’s Charge Headlines Ack Ack

GIII Razorback H. victor Warrior’s Charge (Munnings) headlines a full field in Saturday’s GIII Ack Ack S. at Churchill Downs. Kicking off this term with his first black-type score in the Razorback, the dark bay was second to recent GII Alysheba S. winner By My Standards (Goldencents) in the GII Oaklawn H. May 2. Fourth in the GI Met Mile July 4, he crossed the line second in the GIII Phillip Iselin S. last time at Monmouth, but was promoted to first when the winner was DQ’d Aug. 22.

Ebben (Trappe Shot) takes a step back up to black-type company on a hot streak. Winning while in for a $50,000 tag at Churchill June 13, the gelding scored a decisive optional claimer score at Ellis July 19 and won over this track and trip Sept. 2.

American Anthem (Bodemeister) was purchased by Don Tiger for $145,000 last November at Keeneland and turned over to Danny Gargan. Fourth in the GIII Toboggan S. Jan. 18, he was second in the Stymie S. Mar. 7 and was third in the GI Carter H. June 6. The bay was transferred to Mike Maker, who tried him on turf and found out it was not his preferred surface as the 6-year-old never fired, finishing 11th in the GIII Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint S. Sept. 12.

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Warrior’s Charge To Prep For Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile In Saturday’s Ack Ack At Churchill Downs

Ten Strike Racing and Madaket Stables' multiple stakes winner Warrior's Charge tops a full field of 14 that were entered in Saturday's $100,000 Ack Ack (Grade 3) at Churchill Downs.

The one-mile Ack Ack, carded as Race 9 with a post time of 4:53 p.m., could serve as a prep for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile (GI) on Nov. 7 at Keeneland. First post Saturday is 12:45 p.m.

Trained by Brad Cox, Warrior's Charge was elevated to first in last month's Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3) at Monmouth after interference by Pirate's Punch in the stretch. Warrior's Charge, a 4-year-old son of Munnings, won the $500,000 Razorback (G3) at Oaklawn earlier this year and finished second behind By My Standards in the $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2).

Jockey Florent Geroux will ride Warrior's Charge in the Ack Ack from post No. 1.

Among the other rivals that entered Saturday's affair include Don Tiger's multiple graded stakes winner American Anthem; Calumet Farm's 2019 Preakness (GI) runner-up Everfast; Allied Racing and Spendthrift Farm's four-time Grade III hero Mr. Money; and Heads Up Racing and M and M Racing's multiple stakes winner Pioneer Spirit.

In total, the Ack Ack field has combined for 65 wins and more than $6.94 million in purse earnings.

The complete field for the Ack Ack in order of post position (with jockey and trainer): Warrior's Charge (Geroux, Cox); Bourbon Calling (Brian Hernandez Jr., Ian Wilkes); Proverb (Adam Beschizza, Richard Baltas); American Anthem (James Graham, Mike Maker); Mr. Money (Gabriel Saez, Bret Calhoun); Pioneer Spirit (David Cohen, Robertino Diodoro); Alkhaatam (Declan Cannon, Danny Peitz); Ebben (Corey Lanerie, Steve Margolis); Bankit (Ricardo Santana Jr., Steve Asmussen); Thirstforlife (Chris Landeros, Wes Hawley); Dinar (Rafael Bejarano, Cherie DeVaux); Home Base (Joe Rocco Jr., Mike Tomlinson); and Everfast (Julien Leparoux, Jack Sisterson).

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Forster Looking At Salvator Mile As Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile ‘Win And You’re In’ For Pirate’s Punch

Whatever reservations trainer Grant Forster had about shipping Pirate's Punch from Kentucky to Monmouth Park for the second time in a little more than four weeks disappeared when he put the speedy 4-old gelding back on the work tab.

Disqualified from first place in the Grade 3 Philip H. Iselin Stakes for interference on Aug. 22 at the Oceanport, N.J., track,  Pirate's Punch has maintained the form that saw him cross the finish line a 1 1/2-length winner that day.

So Forster will try again, this time in Sunday's $150,000 Grade 3 Salvator Mile that headlines Monmouth Park's 14-race card, and he will do so with an eye on the future: the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

“We were looking for any reason not to come back but he just would not give us any reason not to do it,” said Forster. “He has been absolutely fantastic every day since he has been back in Kentucky after the Iselin and he has answered every question we gave him.

“He deserves the chance to go back and do it again.”

But there's a little more to it this time, Forster conceded.

“We're looking at this race as kind of our win and you're in for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile,” he said.

Forster, who took over the training of Pirate's Punch from Jeff Mullins last summer, is still looking to add a graded stakes win to Kentucky-bred's credentials. He thought he had one in the Iselin in what was essentially a two-horse race between Pirate's Punch and Warrior's Charge, with Pirate's Punch disqualified from first for interference in the stretch.

“What can you do? That's sports,” said Forster. “Calls go against you in every sport in every country in the world. We were ecstatic with how our horse ran and we felt like we had the best horse that day. So we're back to try to do it again on Sunday.”

A son of Shanghai Bobby, Pirate's Punch shows a 4-3-4 line for 16 career starts, with earnings of $242,751. His appearance at Monmouth Park in the Iselin marked the 10th different track he has raced at over his career and the ninth time in his past 10 starts that he was trying a mile and a sixteenth.

He will be shortening up to a mile for only the third time in his career.

“I think a mile, a mile and a sixteenth, a mile and an eighth … I don't think there is any real specialty to him per se,” said Forster.

The eight-horse Salvator Mile field, he said, “is more well-rounded than the Iselin field was.”

“In the Iselin, Warrior's Charge was the most accomplished horse in the race,” he said. “You look at this field and see a horse like Bal Harbour and I am more worried about him this time than I was in the Iselin. It's his third time off the layoff. There's Top Line Growth, who ran a big number off a layoff. We'll see if he's ready to build off of that or if he will regress.

“With (Grade 1 winner) Valid Point (trying dirt for the first time in his career) you don't know if they're experimenting or if they feel this will move him up. I don't know. He's a hard read.”

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