Lukas following Oaklawn's path to the Kentucky Oaks with Secret Oath

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas is excited about the future of Secret Oath and believes the recent winner of the Martha Washington Stakes at Oaklawn Park has the potential to be a “very, very special filly.”

Secret Oath picked up 10 points for the Kentucky Oaks for her 7 1/4-length win in the 1 1/16-mile race on Jan. 29. One start prior, she won a no-conditions allowance by 8 1/4 lengths at Oaklawn.

“She’s getting very professional,” Lukas said last week. “She’s put two very impressive races back to back. You like to see that this time of year, as horses mature through the spring.”

Secret Oath is a Briland Farm homebred by Arrogate. Her dam, Absinthe Minded, was a three-time route stakes winner at Oaklawn who earned more than $600,000.

Lukas said he liked how Secret Oath came out of the Martha Washington.

“She pulled up beautifully,” he said. “It was not a very hard race on her. She really bounced out of it the next day pretty good.”

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Lukas said the probable next spot for Secret Oath is the Grade 3, $300,000 Honeybee on Feb. 26 at Oaklawn. It awards Kentucky Oaks points on a scale of 50-20-10-5.

“It’s sitting right here in front of us,” he said.

Lukas had another notable 3-year-old winner on the Southwest undercard. Ethereal Road closed from far off the pace in a Silky Sullivan-like performance in a maiden special weight over 1 1/16 miles, defeating 11 rivals.

“I tell you what, I watched that a couple of times,” Lukas said. “That was something.”

Ethereal Road stumbled at the start and found himself a proverbial pole behind the leaders down the backside. He could still see all of his rivals coming to the final turn, but advanced quickly around the bend, scooted by a number of foes into the stretch, and won going away.

Lukas said Ethereal Road will be considered for the Grade 2, $1 million Rebel on Feb. 26 at Oaklawn. It awards Kentucky Derby points on a scale of 50-20-10-5 and is the final prep for the Arkansas Derby.

“In a perfect world, you’d like to run him one more time in his condition,” Lukas said. “The points system dictates a lot of things we have to do. We’ll probably step into one of these points-system races in order to get him along the base path we want him on. We can’t pass up too many of the points races.”

Ethereal Road is a son of Quality Road and a half-brother to Grade 3 winner Turned Aside. Ethereal Road races for Aaron Sones.

“It’s a good day to see those 3-year-olds develop like that and give us a chance to dream a little bit going forward,” Lukas said.