The loss of champion Arrogate (by Unbridled's Song) on June 2, 2020, rocked breeding and racing to its core. The sport had lost a star and potential leading sire far too early; the gallant gray was a source of excitement to those associated with him. He was a rock of hope for the future to the sport and its fans.
After the young stallion's death at age seven, we were left to wonder what might have been and what might yet be, because at the time of his death, Arrogate's oldest foals were yearlings.
When Arrogate's first crop came to the races last year, the result was mostly silence, as his former competitor Gun Runner (Candy Ride) took the victory lap and the laurels with a blowout performance as the 2021 leading freshman sire. The final results from last year had Gun Runner on top of all his contemporaries by more than $2 million with $4,278,641, nearly doubling the excellent results for second-place freshman sire Practical Joke (Into Mischief), whose earnings total of $2,184,295 would have won quite a few freshman sire titles in the last decade.
Where was Arrogate in all this?
He finished the freshman season in 12th place among the country's leading first-crop sires. From 100 foals in his first crop, the gray had 35 starters and 13 winners, with notably fewer starters than most of the higher-placed young sires. Most of Arrogate's winners of 2021 had come in the last 60 days of the season, and at the end of the year, none had advanced to earn black type.
“Would they,” was the question on the mind of every breeder with an Arrogate in the stable or in the paddock growing up.
On Jan. 1, Alittleloveandluck became Arrogate's first stakes winner with victory in the Ginger Brew Stakes at Gulfstream Park, and in the 60 days since, two more racers have earned black type.
On Jan. 29, Secret Oath won the Martha Washington at Oaklawn Park; on Feb. 21, Caragate was third in the Maddie May Stakes at Aqueduct; and on Feb. 26, Secret Oath came back and won the Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn, becoming the sire's first graded stakes winner.
A winner in her last three starts by large margins: 8 1/4, 7 1/4, and 7 1/2 lengths in an allowance, and pair of stakes, Secret Oath is following a pattern similar to the development of her famous sire by taking some time to grow into her frame properly, then showing a high degree of athleticism.
The chestnut filly was bred in Kentucky by the Briland Farm of Stacy and Robert Mitchell, who also bred and raced her dam, the Quiet American mare Absinthe Minded. A three-time listed stakes winner Absinthe Minded was also second and third in the G1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn, as well as second in the G2 Shuvee at Belmont Park, earning $607,747.
Secret Oath is the fourth runner and third winner from her dam, who also produced the good winner Sara Sea (Tiznow), an earner of $262,378 who also is still owned by Briland Farm.
As a yearling, Secret Oath was pulled out of the 2020 September sale because “there wasn't any action on her,” Stacy Mitchell said. “That was the sale during the quarantine, and if you weren't getting looks and didn't have vet action, we didn't think she would sell for what we thought she was worth. So we pulled her out.
“As a yearling herself, Absinthe Minded looked like Real Quiet when he had been a yearling: big, tall, athletic. Kind of narrow. Secret Oath may have been taller, and Gabby Gaudet said over the weekend that she is nearly 17 hands. Absinthe is near that height, but the older half-sister Sara Sea is even taller.”
Robert Mitchell said, “The family is that type of horse, and Secret Oath didn't fit the bill for what a lot of buyers are looking for, being tall and narrow, which isn't the commercial type. She did look like her mom and like her half-sister Sara Sea, who could both run. So I thought she would be able to run too.”
Absinthe Minded has a 2-year-old filly by Medaglia d'Oro who is unnamed but doesn't have a foal of 2021 or 2022. The mare had been bred to Arrogate in 2020 before his death and scanned in foal, but when rescanned, the mare had resorbed the pregnancy. She will be bred to Liam's Map (Unbridled's Song) later this month.
Secret Oath is the first stakes winner for her dam, and to date, Secret Oath is the leading earner for her sire with four victories from six starts and a cash accumulation of $465,167.
And where does Arrogate rank now? Among the second-crop sires of 2022, he stands second, behind only Gun Runner.
With so much development yet to come and so many rich purses yet to be won, the competition between these two champions on the racetrack should be a lot of fun to watch in the coming months.
The post Bloodlines Presented By Mill Ridge Farm: Secret Oath Heads Up Arrogate’s Late Charge From Debut Crop appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
