Secret Oath a huge opportunity for jockey Contreras

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Jockey Luis Contreras will be aboard one of the highest profile horses of the Oaklawn Park meet Saturday when he teams with the filly Secret Oath in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby.

The points race for the Kentucky Derby is one of four stakes on the card that launches the annual Racing Festival of the South. This year, major stakes with total purses of $5.4 million will be run throughout the month of April.

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas named Contreras to ride Secret Oath for the first time in December, and the pair won an allowance at Oaklawn. They would go on to blowout victories in the Martha Washington and Grade 3 Honeybee. In the Arkansas Derby she will take on males for Briland Farm.

“He’s a talented rider and a class act,” Lukas said of Contreras. “He rides smart. “I’m going to give him an opportunity to get on the front page of the Form.”

Lukas also has tabbed Contreras to ride Ethereal Road in the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass on April 8 at Keeneland.

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Jay Fedor, agent for Contreras, said the rider will spend an additional day competing at Keeneland on April 9. Contreras will then resume riding regularly at Oaklawn for a period of time ultimately determined by Secret Oath and Ethereal Road.

“It will be depending on the Derby schedule and the Oaks schedule,” Fedor said.

The Oaklawn meet closes May 8. Contreras will be based at Churchill Downs, Fedor said.

Contreras won his first race on Feb. 1, 2007, at Golden Gate Fields, according to records from Daily Racing Form. Overall, he’s won 2,353 races from 14,100 starts through Wednesday, for mount earnings of more than $100 million.

Contreras has won Grade 1 races with Starship Jubilee, Dads Caps, and Johnny Bear. His other highlights include the 2012 Tampa Bay Derby with Prospective, the 2008 El Camino Real Derby with Autism Awareness, and the 2018 Commonwealth with the Lukas-trained Warrior’s Club.

Secret Oath painting tops auction

A painting of Secret Oath topped a fundraiser auction last week when it brought $3,300 for the Arkansas Racetrack Chaplaincy during an event at Oaklawn.

“It was the highest-priced live auction item at the event,” said Jennifer Hoyt, director of racing for Oaklawn who also works with the chaplaincy. “There was a bidding war between Joe Ragsdale and D. Wayne Lukas.”

Ragsdale, an owner, ultimately secured the painting. Hoyt said it’s an original by Renee Torbit of Coady Photography.