Take Charge Tom is a horse built for distance, and he will get all he wants Saturday night when he moves to 1 1/4 miles for the first time in the Grade 3, $200,000 Canadian Derby at Century Mile.
“I don’t think that will be a problem,” said trainer Robertino Diodoro, who is seeking his fifth win in the prestigious race.
The Canadian Derby, which will have its 96th running Saturday, is being showcased on a card that includes four stakes. The $100,000 Speed to Spare Championship is led by August Rain, who won last year’s Canadian Derby. The $100,000 Century Casino Oaks begins the stakes action in the seventh race, while the $75,000 Northlands Distaff Handicap matches standouts Big Hug and Avana.
The Canadian Derby drew a field of 11. Take Charge Tom figures to go favored after finishing in front of several of his rivals in first last out in the Manitoba Derby at Assiniboia Downs in Winnipeg. However, he and a rival clipped heels as Take Charge Tom was crossing over to the rail at the start of the 1 1/8-mile race, which he initially won by 1 1/4 lengths, and Take Charge Tom was disqualified and placed seventh.
There was a long deliberation period before the race was declared official.
“We’d already taken the picture,” Diodoro recalled. “We were in the parking lot with the trophy. We were heading back to the test barn.”
Diodoro, who does not take issue with the stewards’ decision, has been able to find a silver lining in the situation for Take Charge Tom.
“He ran a great race,” Diodoro said. “He was the best horse in the race and he knows he won. When it’s all said and done, that’s the main thing. He knows he won.”
So it is with confidence that Take Charge Tom, a son of Tom’s d’Etat who has four stakes wins to his credit for breeder and owner Randy Howg, comes into the Canadian Derby. He has registered three stakes wins at two turns, including the Mine That Bird Derby at 1 1/8 miles in April at Sunland Park. Take Charge Tom will pick up added ground Saturday under regular rider Rasheed Hughes.
“I don’t think distance will be a problem,” Diodoro said. “Even in Winnipeg, he galloped out strong. No one ever passed him galloping out. One thing Hughes said is that he still had lots of horse left.”
Take Charge Tom led throughout in the Manitoba Derby, but he could employ different tactics in the Canadian Derby when he starts from post 3.
“He doesn’t need to be on the lead and I don’t think he will be on the lead Saturday, as there’s a little bit of speed in the race,” Diodoro said. “I’m hoping to just sit off of it a little bit. Going that far, you need to relax. Hopefully, he’ll just relax and sit chilly.”
Diodoro said Take Charge Tom has had a chance to work over the surface at Century Mile. The track is generally tighter than the surface he raced on at Assiniboia, where he won the Derby Trial in July prior to the Manitoba Derby on Aug. 4.
“In the Trial, it was really deep and he struggled over it,” Diodoro said. “Even the rider said the track just about got him beat. He definitely improved his second time over the track over there. It’s a very tiring racetrack in Winnipeg.”
Diodoro will also start local stakes winner Wood Ceiling in the Canadian Derby. He was a distant third last out in the Count Latham Stakes won by Pioneer Storm King, who returns in the Canadian Derby.
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“He’s training great,” Diodoro said of Wood Ceiling. “You can throw out his last race. He could not handle the mud at all. He’s training very, very well. He’s probably the best I’ve ever seen him look. The distance is going to be the question mark for him.”
Attack, who was placed first in the Manitoba Derby, also returns in the Canadian Derby.
Diodoro first won the Canadian Derby in 2013 with Broadway Empire. He took the race again in 2014 with Edison, in 2018 with eventual Sovereign Award winner Sky Promise, and in 2022 with Great Escape.
Century Casino Oaks
Diodoro will seek a second stakes win on the card with Dontgiveupthefight in the $100,000 Century Casino Oaks. The 1 1/8-mile race drew seven, led by local Gee I’m Foxy, who has won her last three starts by a combined margin of 26 3/4 lengths.
Dontgiveupthefight enters off a 10 1/2-length win in a second-level allowance at Century Mile. The daughter of Jimmy Creed is making her two-turn debut.
“Talent-wise, she fits,” Diodoro said. “The distance is going to be a big question mark. She’s slowly learning to relax a little bit, and when you go a mile and an eighth, you’ve got to relax. And that’s what we’re hoping – she’s going to relax a little bit more and make the distance.”
August Rain is moving back to 1 1/4 miles in the Speed to Spare, while Big Hug is the 127-pound highweight in the Northlands over Avana, who is weighted at 126.
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