There Goes Harvard surged past Defunded in the final furlong of Monday’s $400,000 Hollywood Gold Cup (G1) at Santa Anita to give the 4-year-old Will Take Charge colt his first stakes victory.
The chestnut colt came into the Memorial Day feature off a pair of allowance wins and has never been worse than third in his career. In his lone stakes outing prior to Monday’s win, he was second to future Grade 1 winner Super Stock in the Ellis Park Derby.
There Goes Harvard, in post 1 in the five-horse field, dropped back to last as Defunded sped through an opening quarter-mile in :22.76. Defunded continued to control the pace through the first six furlongs, which went in 1:10.99. The field began to tighten up on the far turn, with four horses across the track coming into the stretch.
There Goes Harvard was moving best of all and caught Defunded with a little more than a sixteenth to run. He surged past the pacesetter to win by a length in 2:02.66 on a fast track.
“I was pretty excited, when I saw him stick his head in front coming to the three sixteenths pole, I got a little emotional, but things just worked out properly,” said winning trainer Mike McCarthy.
Owned by his breeder Cannon Thoroughbreds, LLC, There Goes Harvard has now earned $455,090 in 12 lifetime outings.
There Goes Harvard is the fifth stakes winner of the year for Will Take Charge, the most for any Fifth-Crop sire. He also leads the list with three graded winners. A top-five sire by crop for the past four years, Will Take Charge stands for $5,000 S&N.
