Will Take Charge has a little Messier in him
John Bax is an avid follower of the National Hockey League, and like everywhere his barn has been a source of discussion surrounding this week’s trade and signing activities.
Not surprisingly, he sees parallels between players and his equine athletes, most recently three-year-old trotter Will Take Charge.
“I’m not saying he’s the most talent horse out there, but I know I won’t face any attitude problems with him — there will be no trouble in the dressing room,” he quips.
That sophomore had a tremendous June, finishing second in the $268,000 Goodtimes stake and then followed with a winning performance in a $70,000 Ontario Sires Stake on Monday night. That gives him just under $122,000 for the season and well on the way to surpassing last year’s tally of $196,990. Not a bad return already on a $47,000 yearling purchase.
“If he played hockey he would not quite be good enough to say for sure he belongs on the first line, but he definitely is a solid second-liner and maybe not that far off the top level,” explains Bax from his farm located just off Guelph Line.
“We did not make him eligible to the Hambletonian but he does have the Canadian Trotting Championship and the Breeders Crown in the fall.”
Bax would likely have made a better than average hockey scout had he chosen to go that path instead of developing young horses. His strike rate over the years has been as good or better than anyone, particularly in light of having a modest self-imposed budget.
“Will Take Charge is very easy on himself and I think will stay very healthy over the year because of the way he trots. He does not bang the track when he travels and also is just a medium-sized animal, which all should work to his advantage. If he played hockey he’d be one of those that would play the full 82-game schedule.”
Gord Wright, Don Allensen, John Hayes and Bax share title to the colt who is destined for more OSS money in the weeks ahead. He has all the appearance of horse destined to steadily pile up the dollars before year’s end.
“It continues to be very nice to see one like him come along because it is not getting any easier getting horses than can do what he does,” says Bax.
“We seem to be breeding horses for speed rather than toughness and durability. One can train down right to qualifying time and then we find they have no fight to them. When that happens you are not going to be making any money because they just aren’t good enough. Again, there is a lot of similarity to hockey players. How many of those juniors drafted a week ago are going to ever make it to the big time and stick?”
Bax believes he has a talent in the barn with Will Take Charge. So do a lot of other people.