Secret Oath to run with the boys in Arkansas Derby
HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Secret Oath has emerged as the dominant 3-year-old of the Oaklawn Park meet, and Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Saturday the filly will get a shot against male rivals in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Arkansas Derby on April 2.
“We’re going to lead her over there,” he said.
The plans for Secret Oath were first reported by Gary Stevens, the retired Hall of Fame rider who is a racing analyst for the Fox Sports Network. He’s also a jockey agent based at Oaklawn and Lukas said the men had coffee together Saturday. They won the 1988 Kentucky Derby together with the filly Winning Colors.
Secret Oath, who races for breeders Briland Farm, has won her three starts at the meet by a combined margin of 23 lengths. She took a Dec. 31 allowance by 8 1/4 lengths and the Beyer Speed Figure of 93 that she earned was tied for the fifth-highest Beyer among all 2-year-olds in 2021.
Secret Oath came back and won the $200,000 Martha Washington on Jan. 29 with a Beyer of 88 and the Grade 3, $300,000 Honeybee on Feb. 26 with a Beyer of 92. The Grade 2, $1 million Rebel was run at the same 1 1/16 miles distance later on the Honeybee card and winner Un Ojo earned a Beyer of 84.
Lukas told Daily Racing Form in a Saturday interview that there were a number of reasons to target the Arkansas Derby, rather than the final local Kentucky Oaks points race for her division, the Grade 3 $600,000 Fantasy on April 2.
“I think that double the purse and the track – we know she has an affinity for Oaklawn – were two reasons,” Lukas said. “We never do this without a lot of thought. Her numbers say if she were a colt, it’s a no-brainer, we’d move right toward it. It’s unknown who's going to come in, ship in, but what we do know is that her numbers are very competitive."
Lukas, who in 1984 saddled the filly Althea to a seven-length win in the Arkansas Derby, also noted Secret Oath is already in the starting gate for the Oaks.
“We’ve got enough points to go to the Oaks - we can drop back to the Oaks situation later.”
Lukas said an additional reason to target the Arkansas Derby is its new date farther out from the Kentucky Derby - and the Kentucky Oaks.
“Oaklawn has done something really, really well and made the race five weeks to the Oaks and the Kentucky Derby,” he said. “That’s very significant. If it were three weeks or four weeks, I would factor that in. But to get five weeks to reevaluate where we’re at and what we need to do to fine-tune her to get her a little bit more ready, it’s very significant.”
Secret Oath would need to finish first or second to earn enough points to be in the Derby starting gate.
Lukas said with the decision on Secret Oath that Rebel runner-up Ethereal Road would be pointed to the Grade 1, $1 million Blue Grass at Keeneland. Stevens also reported the item, and it was confirmed by Daily Racing Form.