Will's Secret has more than form going for her in Mistletoe

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Will’s Secret will be both a logical and sentimental choice Saturday when she attempts to run her Oaklawn Park record to 3 for 3 in the $150,000 Mistletoe.

The one-mile race for fillies and mares – which ends at the sixteenth pole – is one of two stakes on the card. Flash of Mischief makes his first start out of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint in the new $150,000 Ring the Bell.

The races are part of opening weekend at Oaklawn. The track was the longtime stomping ground of Arkansas resident Willis Horton, the breeder who raced Will’s Secret and also campaigned champions Will Take Charge and Take Charge Brandi. Horton died in October at 82, but his racing stable will carry on under the direction of his son Kevin Horton.

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“I’ve been with my dad in racing for probably 30 years,” said Kevin Horton, 59. “It’s his game. It was his game and I’m doing it for him. So, it will still be Willis Horton Racing, but in parenthesis will have my name.”

Will’s Secret is a Grade 3 winner by Will Take Charge and is part of a field of seven for the Mistletoe. The race also drew stakes winners Coach, Lovely Ride, Le Da Vida, and Semble Juste.

Will’s Secret has made two starts at Oaklawn, both in the spring of 2021. She captured the Martha Washington at a mile and the Grade 3 Honeybee. From there, Will’s Secret went on to run third in the Kentucky Oaks, a race Willis Horton had previously won in partnership with Lemons Forever.

“This is the only hobby he ever had,” Kevin Horton said. “I witnessed a lot of dreams come true for him.”

Willis Horton had a special affinity for Will’s Secret, who is coming off a three-other-than allowance win Nov. 25 at Churchill. She has tactical speed and could get an ideal trip off Lovely Ride, who is a candidate to set the pace, and Ice Orchid, who is moving back to two turns off a runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Chilukki at Churchill.

Rafael Bejarano has the mount on Will’s Secret for trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

Later on the card, Ben Diesel, who is a full brother to Will’s Secret, will see action in an allowance. Kevin Horton said he plans to travel to Oaklawn for the card and hopes to bring his mother, Glenda Horton.

Kevin Horton said his father for years would regularly make the near three-hour drive to Oaklawn to be at the races. He said he started out with low-end runners just to be part of the game. Over time, Willis Horton built one of the most notable stables in North America.

“We’re carrying on just like it’s always been,” Kevin Horton said. “He loved racing so much. Hopefully, we do what he wants.

“I’ve got to do it right. He’s watching.”

Ring the Bell Stakes

Flash of Mischief ran the best race of his career under the promising young jockey Cristian Torres, and the horse and rider will team up again for the Ring the Bell.

The six-furlong race is for 3-year-olds and up. The field of seven includes Long Range Toddy, a millionaire bred by Willis Horton; Boldor, a five-time stakes winner; Kavod, who won last season’s Advent Stakes at Oaklawn; and One for Richie, the potential pacesetter who is 7 for 12 in Hot Springs.

Torres guided Flash of Mischief to a 6 1/4-length win in the David M. Vance Stakes in September at Remington Park, and the Beyer Speed Figure of 104 that the Karl Broberg trainee earned is the best career number in the Ring the Bell.

“That was a beautiful race, the Vance,” Torres said. “I remember going to the paddock and Karl telling me that he wanted to see the horse behind the pace because he’s usually in front and cutting back from [two turns] to six furlongs, there was a lot of pace in that race. We broke and he relaxed beautifully and when I asked him to run by the three-eighths, he was there for me he finished strong.”

The performance sent both Flash of Mischief and Torres to the Breeders’ Cup, where the horse raced in contention until the later stages. Flash of Mischief finished ninth, 7 1/4 lengths behind winner Elite Power.

“We broke sharp the way we wanted and he sat behind the pacemaker, tried to make a run down the lane,” Torres said. “He ran his race.”

Torres is a 25-year-old who was born in Puerto Rico. He began race riding in 2019 at Gulfstream Park and is the current leading rider at Remington. He has a double-digit lead in the standings at the meet that ends next weekend and is now based at Oaklawn.

“There’s a lot of good jockeys here,” he said. “It makes the game very fun, because it’s very competitive. You’ve got to show your best.”

It’s what both Flash of Mischief and Torres will be looking to do when they break from the rail Saturday.

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