Tag: briland farm

After Skipping Shuvee, Secret Oath Returns In Personal Ensign

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — Never shy about being a promoter, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas did not have to use his best pitch as he looked ahead to the GI Personal Ensign S. on Aug. 25 where he will saddle Secret Oath (Arrogate).

Always an important race that draws the top older dirt fillies and mares, the $500,000 Personal Ensign will once again have a strong lineup on Friday. Champion Nest (Curlin) and Clairiere (Curlin), who ran 1-2 in the GII Shuvee S. on July 23 are the obvious headliners. In addition to Secret Oath, the field could include Juddmonte's GII Delaware H. winner Idiomatic (Curlin). Three-time graded stakes winner Search Results (Flatter), the runner-up last year by a half-length to champion Malathaat (Curlin), was also nominated.

“This will be a Breeders' Cup prep.  That's what this is,” Lukas said. “This may be the best race of the year up here.”

The field will be without one standout, Rigney Racing's Played Hard (Into Mischief). Trainer Phillip Bauer said Friday that she will skip the Personal Ensign. The GI La Troienne S. winner spiked a fever in July that caused her to miss the Shuvee, had a breeze interrupted when a rider on another horse was unseated and is not quite ready to return to top-caliber competition.

Lukas, 87, is anxious to run Secret Oath in the Personal Ensign. She opened her 4-year-old season with three strong races. She beat Clairiere by 2 3/4 lengths in the GII Azeri S., but Clairiere reversed the finish by a neck in the GI Apple Blossom H. Played Hard edged Secret Oath by a neck in the La Troienne.

In her fourth outing of the season, Secret Oath was a well-beaten fifth of six behind Clairiere and Search Results in the GI Ogden Phipps S. on June 10 at Belmont Park. Lukas said the filly's owners, Stacy and Robert Mitchell, wanted to pass on the Shuvee and have her ready for the Personal Ensign, the GI Juddmonte Spinster S. on Oct. 8 at Keeneland and the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Santa Anita on Nov. 4.

Secret Oath, winner of the 2022 GI Kentucky Oaks, has been in Saratoga with Lukas throughout the meet and has breezed four times on the Oklahoma training track.

“She's doing everything right and working lights out,” he said. “But there's nothing like racing to keep them sharp.”

During the 76 days between starts, Lukas has made a point of giving her aggressive works. She turned in a bullet five furlongs in :59 flat (1/14) on Aug. 12 and will work again early Sunday morning. He was she was good, but laid back, so he is trying to tune her up.

“She has trained and put on weight and gotten a lot more relaxed mentally,” he said. “That kind of happens when you give them those long breaks. She's had an eight-week break, maybe even more, but she's really doing everything right. I'm hoping that she'll wake up.”

To that end, Lukas worked her five furlongs in 1:00.45 on Aug. 3, sent her out for a circuit of the track doing a two-minute lick on Aug. 7 and followed up with the bullet breeze. He will continue with that approach Sunday morning.

“I will let her work,” Lukas said. “They say, 'I just want a maintenance work.' I'll go :59, :58. That will be fine with me. I want a sharp one.”

Secret Oath was scheduled to be sold at auction last November, but Lukas encouraged the Mitchells to withdraw her and keep her in training this year. He argued that she could earn quite a lot of purse money and probably enhance her value. She has earned $576,350 this year, pushing her career total to $2,344,767 from 17 starts.

At Saratoga last summer, Nest easily handled Secret Oath in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks and the GI Alabama S., which sent her to the 3-year-old filly Eclipse Award. Lukas said that Secret Oath has improved in the last 12 months.

“She's stronger and bigger and she should run better,” he said. “Let me put it this way, I think this race will be good for her, really good, but the next one will be a lot better. I really feel like once she gets this one under her belt, she will be really tough in the Spinster.”

Bauer said he had to scuttle the plan to run Played Hard in the Shuvee and the Personal Ensign.

“We decided after a five-eighths drill the week before that we had really lost too much fitness with the time that she got sick,” he said. “We went back and forth on it, but basically landed on, if we're going to take on this type we better not have any reservations about it. We're just going to turn the page to the [Sept. 16 GIII] Locust Grove, which she won last year at Churchill. She's probably a work away from the Personal Ensign, which we may have achieved if the first work off the time off would have gone to plan. Everything kind of blew up on us for both of the races up here.”

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D. Wayne Lukas Turns Back Time at Summer in Saratoga

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – This has been a turn-back-the-clock, very D. Wayne Lukas-like, summer at Saratoga for the Hall of Fame trainer.

As he approaches his 87th birthday on Sept. 2, the racing legend has won a graded stake, finished second in two others, and made his presence felt at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale with the purchase of five yearlings for $2.725 million, led by of a son of Medaglia d'Oro for $1.35 million.

After skipping the past two Saratoga seasons due to a combination of the Covid-19 pandemic and a downturn in talent in his stable, Lukas returned in July with the star filly Secret Oath (Arrogate) and 15 others he felt had the quality to compete at the tough meet in upstate New York. While the Briland Farm homebred disappointed, finishing a distant second to Nest (Curlin) in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks on July 23, Lukas said he is satisfied with the way things worked out in the opening weeks of the season. Through Sunday's 24th day of the 40-day meet, Lukas' stable had a record of 3-4-2 from 19 starts– 47 percent in the money–and  earnings of $433,259.

“I think we've done all right, except for that one race,” he said after supervising the morning training from the back of his pony. “That one race bothers me and is nagging at me a little bit. I'm talking about the Coaching Club Oaks. That really bothered me. I know that our filly is so much better than that and we didn't get a chance to showcase her yet.”

Lukas said he was unhappy with the way jockey Luis Saez rode Secret Oath in the CCA Oaks and discussed that race after he worked her five furlongs in 1:01.55 on Aug. 9. Lukas described the breeze over the Oklahoma training track as “brilliant.”

“If you take that one out of it, I think everything else has been real fine,” Lukas said. “I really have enjoyed getting some of the 2-year-olds started and so forth. I think we can finish up here with a little flourish.”

BC Stable's 2-year-old Bourbon Bash (City of Light) sent Lukas to the winner's circle on Saturday to celebrate his eight-length victory in a maiden special weight race. He said the colt could make his next start in the GI Hopeful, a race Lukas has won a record eight times.

“He's been training really strong,” Lukas said. “He's a very immature looking horse, if you look at him closely, but he's starting to get his act together. Having the one out and the rest of the field didn't have any, he got away beautifully and Flavien (Prat) put him on cruise speed and away he went.”

Lukas said the Hopeful on the final day of the meet could be a good fit.

“We're right here,” he said. “You know me, when they're good I like to run them back. That was not a hard race on this horse. ”

On Aug. 9, the second night of the Saratoga Sale, Lukas purchased the Medaglia d'Oro colt for John Bellinger, a partner in the new BC Stable, that owns Bourbon Bash and Summer Promise (Uncle Mo), who was second in the GIII Schuylerville S. on opening day. It was the first time in a while that Lukas bought a seven-figure yearling.

“I don't know it just exactly. It had to be had to be mid-2000s–2005, 2006, 2007, somewhere in there,” he said. “We've been active in the sales, but we're buying $400,00-$500,000 ones which is not to be watered down. But this horse, we got into a bidding war with I think WinStar and some of those people. That was plenty for him, but he was something else. Good horseman all said the same thing. Actually, Kenny McPeek and I were talking and he said it was the No. 1 horse in the sale for him.”

Lukas said he called Bellinger a couple of hours before the session started and proposed buying the horse.

“I said, 'I think the best horse in the sale is selling tonight,'” Lukas said “I said, 'we can probably put together a group of three or four, or, John, you can just step up if you want to and we'll just try to buy him.'”

Lukas told him the colt would sell for “north of a million, for sure” and Bellinger agreed have Lukas jump into the bidding.

Lukas on his pony | Mike Kane

Naughty Gal's victory in the GIII Adirondack S. was Lukas's third graded stakes victory of 2022 and matched his combined total for the previous seven seasons. He expects to bring her back in the GI Spinaway S. on the closing weekend of the meet. With $2,614,795 in earnings through Sunday he is a cinch to have his best year since 2014 when he topped $4.7 million. His success has brought him new business.

“Surprisingly, yes. It really has,” he said. “I don't know if the exposure or the fact that people were sitting back and saying 'He's old. I wonder if he's still got it?' You know, that attitude. Then when you bang, bang, bang start to get on the front page again, they probably think 'Well, hell, he's out there and he's doing okay, we can give him another horse.' I don't think anybody questions that we can train. I think that's probably a given. But at my age they could sure question the work ethic and some of that and I think they feel comfortable.”

Among the additions to his stable in recent months were 14 horses owned by former client Willis Horton Racing LLC.

“Not only that, I've gotten a couple of new ones in the sale ring by buying yearlings, which is now a three-year look down the road,” he said. “So they must think I'm doing okay, physically.”

Lukas has made a few concessions to his age–using a cane when he is walking and steps to get up off the ground and onto his horse–but said he only feels old when he looks in the mirror. Earlier in the meet he had a mild case of Covid-19, which kept him away from the stable. It was a far different than his bout in 2020 when he said he thought he might die from the virus.

Lukas is confident in Secret Oath | Mike Kane

Secret Oath steps back into the spotlight this week and will face Nest again Saturday in the 142nd running of the Grade I Alabama S. The outcome could have a significant impact on the 3-year-old filly championship. Secret Oath beat Nest in the GI Kentucky Oaks then ran fourth in the GI Preakness S. Nest came out of her runner-up performance in the Oaks to finish second in the GI Belmont S. and ran away from Secret Oath in the CCA Oaks to win by 12 1/4 lengths.

Lukas said Saez told him after that Secret Oath “never felt better” under him. In the CCA Oaks, Secret Oath was closer to the pace and was wide in her first start in some eight weeks. At the top of the stretch, when it looked like the two stars would battle to the wire, Nest easily ran away from her rival.

With a race over the track and couple of breezes since the race, Lukas said he is confident that Secret Oath is capable of winning the 1 1/4-mile Alabama. She will be his 14th starter in the race. He was won it twice, most recently with Open Mind (Deputy Minister) in 1989

“I think it's just a trip,” Lukas said. “She actually is doing better right now than any time. I really feel that. I think she's filled out and getting stronger and everything. The work really put a punch on that line that she is better and Luis, when he worked her, said the same thing.”

“So we're down to a trip. We've got to get a trip, the trip we got in the Oaks back in Kentucky. If we get that I am not afraid of anybody.”

Lukas praised Nest, trained by is former assistant Todd Pletcher, and said the rivalry is something to look forward to.

“This thing's going to get down to where–this is not Alydar and Affirmed–but I think we could have a great fall with these two fillies,” he said.

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Taking Stock: First Crops Yield Classic Winners

Rich Strike (Keen Ice), upset winner of the Gl Kentucky Derby at 80-1, and Secret Oath (Arrogate), the powerful Gl Kentucky Oaks winner, are members of the first crops of their respective sires, both of whom were late-developing Classic-distance horses. Keen Ice and Arrogate each won his first stakes race at Saratoga in late August at three, in the Gl Travers S. at 10 furlongs. Keen Ice won the “Midsummer Classic” in 2015 at 16-1, defeating Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in a shocker. Arrogate won the race the next year at 12-1 by an astonishing 13 1/2 lengths, setting a track record of 1:59.36 in the process. At stud, neither was expected to make a notable impression until his first crop was three, and that's how things played out. Arrogate finished 10th among leading first-crop sires of 2021 and Keen Ice 12th. Neither was represented by a black-type winner last year.

It's a bit of a different story now. Keen Ice and Arrogate are the sires of two black-type winners apiece, which wouldn't be anything to shout home about, except they've accounted for the two most prestigious races for 3-year-old colts and fillies.

By Curlin, Keen Ice was raced by Jerry Crawford's Donegal, whose Mo Donegal (Uncle Mo) came from far back to finish fifth in the Derby behind Rich Strike. Crawford, a client of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, has a penchant for purchasing late-running 10-furlong horses, which I wrote about in this space two weeks ago, and Keen Ice, a $120,000 yearling, fit that profile. Initially trained by Dale Romans, Keen Ice was transferred to Todd Pletcher sometime during his 4-year-old campaign, and for Pletcher he won the Gll Suburban over 10 furlongs at five. However, Keen Ice only won three of 24 starts during his career, though he placed in numerous Grade l races for both Romans and Pletcher and earned $3.4 million. As a strict come-from-behind horse, he was frequently pace-traffic/trouble-compromised in races, most of which were usually too short for him. The 2017 edition of the Gl Whitney at Saratoga over nine furlongs is a case in point: Gun Runner, a son of Candy Ride (Arg), led for most of the race and won by 5 1/4 lengths; early on, Keen Ice trailed in last after a bad start but rallied for second.

Arrogate, a gray son of Unbridled's Song trained by Bob Baffert, was literally and figuratively a horse of a different color from Keen Ice. He had speed and the ability to carry it a distance, plus the acceleration to outrun opponents from anywhere in a race. He won his Travers leading throughout, but in a celebrated Gl Breeders' Cup Classic later that year against California Chrome, Arrogate impressively ran down his pace-setting older rival, who looked a winner in deep stretch only before Arrogate passed him to win. Keen Ice finished third, 10 3/4 lengths behind California Chrome, after getting bumped after the break and closing from far back.

Arrogate won seven of 11 starts, earned a North American record $17.4 million, and went to stud at owner Juddmonte Farms for $75,000, the highest fee among newcomers for the 2018 season. Gun Runner, who was retired to Three Chimneys, was second, with a $70,000 fee. Keen Ice began his career for $20,000 at Calumet, which had bought into the horse for his 5-year-old campaign. Keen Ice now stands for $7,500, Arrogate is dead, and Gun Runner, who led all North American-based first-crop runners last year, stood for an advertised fee of $125,000 this year, if you could get to him.

It's all about first-crop 2-year-old performances for the commercial marketplace, but the 10-furlong Classic in Louisville is another matter altogether.

Stamina Lines
Calumet's interest in Keen Ice was understandable for several reasons. The farm's present ownership has a keen interest in standing and breeding stayers, and champion turf horse English Channel, a staying son of Curlin's sire Smart Strike, was Calumet's best recent stallion.

Smart Strike, a son of Mr. Prospector, was known for reliably transmitting stamina; aside from English Channel and Curlin, his sire sons also include Lookin at Lucky, who like Curlin was a champion and Gl Preakness winner. Lookin at Lucky sired the 65-1 Derby winner Country House, who was awarded the Classic on the disqualification of Maximum Security in 2019.

Likewise, Curlin, who wasn't highly placed on the 2012 first-crop list, is a conduit for stamina; his sons and daughters have been particularly active in the runups for the Derby and Oaks through the years, and in 2021, Malathaat won the Oaks. This year, Nest was second to Secret Oath. Curlin got Gl Belmont S. winner Palace Malice from his first crop and Gl Preakness winner Exaggerator a few crops later, and he's one of the most reliable stallions for siring Classic-type runners.

The Mr. Prospector horse Fappiano is also responsible for a notable stamina branch, primarily through Derby winner Unbridled–the sire of Empire Maker and Unbridled's Song. The branch through Empire Maker includes Triple Crown winner American Pharoah and Derby winner Always Dreaming. Derby winner Real Quiet is a son of the Fappiano horse Quiet American. Another Fappiano branch through Cryptoclearance leads to Candy Ride and his high-flying son Gun Runner, whose first crop contains among others Gl Arkansas Derby winner Cyberknife, Gl Santa Anita Derby winner Taiba, and last year's champion 2-year-old filly Echo Zulu, who lost for the first time in the Oaks.

Unbridled also sired the first-crop Derby winner Grindstone, who wasn't much of a stallion but did sire the Belmont and Travers winner Birdstone. The latter, in turn, sired two memorable first-crop runners: 50-1 Derby winner Mine That Bird and 12-1 Belmont S. winner Summer Bird.

Unbridled's best sire son Unbridled's Song was generally a transmitter of more speed than others from the line. Though his daughters have become outstanding producers of high-level runners, his sire sons have been found wanting, and Arrogate was considered the potential heir until his untimely death in 2020. That mantle now belongs to Lane's End's Liam's Map.

First-Crop Engineering
When stallions like Arrogate and Keen Ice retire, the general thinking of stud farms and breeders is to send them faster and more precocious mares to balance their late development and stamina. Juddmonte, for instance, was actively looking for these types of stakes-winning mares for Arrogate, who was unraced at two.

Ironically, Secret Oath is from a mare that doesn't fit this profile, though her dam was a well-performed runner.

Secret Oath, who was bred and is raced by Briland Farm, is from the Quiet American mare Absinthe Minded, a multiple Graded-placed black-type winner of $607,747. Secret Oath is therefore inbred 4×3 to Fappiano on the sire-line cross (both sire and broodmare sire trace to Fappiano). Her dam failed to win in three starts at two, and she didn't become a stakes winner until she was four, when she also placed in the Gl Apple Blossom. She won two more black-type races at five, when she again placed in the Apple Blossom.

Rich Strike is the 10th Derby winner bred by Calumet, but the first for the farm's current ownership. Like Secret Oath, Rich Strike is out of a stakes-winning mare – Canadian Classic and Graded stakes winner Gold Strike, a daughter of Smart Strike. Like the Oaks winner, the Derby winner is inbred on the sire-line cross, in his case quite closely, 3×2, to Smart Strike. The latter, by the way, is also the broodmare sire of Mine That Bird and his half-brother Dullahan, another Donegal runner, who was third in the Derby. Dullahan was sired by the Unbridled's Song stallion Even the Score and was bred similarly to Mine That Bird, as both were 5×3 to Mr. Prospector on the sire-line cross through Unbridled and Smart Strike.

There is precedent for the close inbreeding of Rich Strike in other Calumet Derby winners from the past. Iron Liege, for example, was 2×3 to full brothers Bull Dog (Fr) and Sir Gallahad lll (Fr), and Tim Tam was 3×3 to Bull Dog, so perhaps it was a calculated decision to inbreed to Smart Strike so closely in Rich Strike's case. At the least, his dam had to be one of the better mares to visit Keen Ice in his first year at stud.

Calumet had purchased Gold Strike, a champion Canadian 3-year-old filly, for $230,000 in 2015, and at the time she was already the dam of Llanarmon, a Sky Mesa filly who'd won the Gll Natalma S. at two. Llanarmon went on to place in the Woodbine Oaks and also won the Carotene S. at nine furlongs on turf. Gold Strike was herself a Grade lll winner who'd won the Woodbine Oaks and placed in the Queen's Plate against colts over 10 furlongs, which gives Rich Strike plenty of stamina on both sides of the pedigree.

In fact, Rich Strike's pedigree probably contains much more stamina than necessary for the U.S. racing ecosystem, but a confluence of factors in the Derby, including a rapid early pace– the first quarter of :21.78 was faster than the :22.76 set by champion sprinter Jackie's Warrior in the Gl Churchill Downs S.– and an inspired ride helped to showcase it.

Sid Fernando is president and CEO of Werk Thoroughbred Consultants, Inc., originator of the Werk Nick Rating and eNicks.

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It’s ‘Oath’ and Coach in the Oaks

The legend of trainer D. Wayne Lukas got just a little bit longer Friday afternoon.

Fully four decades after Stonereath Farms' Blush With Pride (Blushing Groom {Fr}) gave the Hall of Famer a maiden victory in the GI Kentucky Oaks–now sponsored by Longines–and 32 years after Seaside Attraction (Seattle Slew) provided William T. Young's Overbrook Farm with their lone success in the fillies' feature for Lukas's fourth and most recent winner, Briland Farm homebred Secret Oath (Arrogate) was back to her brilliant best beneath the Twin Spires, as she capitalized on a frenetic pace and outfinished GI Central Bank Ashland S. heroine Nest (Curlin) for a decisive tally. Arizona-bred longshot Desert Dawn (Cupid) was up for third over pace-pressing champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Echo Zulu (Gun Runner).

“It feels great,” said Lukas, impeccably clad as is his big-race custom. “I've said all week, as trainers we think it's us. After you win one, the real satisfaction is for the [owners] who raised her and let them have the opportunity to enjoy this and get the thrill.”

Lukas joins the legendary Woody Stephens on five Oaks wins.

Secret Oath outran odds of 31-1 to be third on her one-mile debut over a rain-affected Churchill strip Oct. 3 and ghosted her rivals by 5 1/4 lengths when tried around two turns on Halloween before finishing a well-beaten fifth in the local GII Golden Rod S. Nov. 27.

Relocated to Oakawn Park for the winter, the track at which her dam Absinthe Minded (Quiet American) did the majority of her best work, the chestnut took things to a new level in a one-mile allowance on New Year's Eve, whooshing home and leaving Friday's GII Eight Belles S. victress Matareya (Pioneerof the Nile) 8 1/4 lengths in her wake. The 7 1/4-length winner of the Jan. 29 Martha Washington S., Secret Oath followed up by a similar margin in the GIII Honeybee S., sewing up a spot in this event in the process. But instead of taking the path of least resistance against her peers in the GIII Fantasy S., connections rolled the dice against the boys in the GI Arkansas Derby, a race whose $1.25-million purse was better than double that of the Fantasy. But little went right, as she was bothered at the start, was consigned to a six-wide run around the turn and peaked on her run about a sixteenth from home to finish third behind Cyberknife (Gun Runner). Lukas vowed that, win or lose, it was onto the Oaks and Secret Oath took care of the rest on an intermittently rainy Friday afternoon.

A Superlative Steer from Saez…

Luis Contreras was Secret Oath's partner for her four-race campaign in Hot Springs, but he came under some fire for his Arkansas Derby ride and was ultimately replaced by Luis Saez, whose agent Kiaran McLaughlin served as an assistant to Lukas before going on to a successful training career of his own. The Panamanian, who celebrates his 30th birthday May 19, had a previous relationship with Lukas, having won the 2013 GI Travers S. and GI Clark H. with champion Will Take Charge (Unbridled's Song).

The joint-third choice for the Oaks with the previously undefeated Kathleen O. (Upstart), Secret Oath was away without incident from stall one, but drifted back to midfield as a hot pace developed, as was widely expected. Echo Zulu was first to break the line, but she was soon supplanted on top by Fantasy heroine Yuugiri (Shackleford) who led the way through an opening quarter-mile in a demanding :22.45.

Eighth and ground saving as the Oaks field rounded the clubhouse turn, Saez pulled Secret Oath away from the inside and improved three wide and in the clear down the backstretch, now racing just in advance of Nest at the rail, with GII Rachel Alexandra S. upsetter Turnerloose (Nyquist) between those two.

Out of harm's way as they entered the turn, Secret Oath commenced an eye-catching move around Desert Dawn and Venti Valentine (Firing Line), catapulting herself from eighth to third in the space of a sixteenth of a mile, and was poised to strike outside of Echo Zulu nearing the stretch.

Saez cut the ribbons once heads were turned for home and Secret Oath drove past Echo Zulu entering the final furlong and a half. Nest, full of run but with nowhere to go on the swing into the stretch, was produced wide leaving the quarter pole, but Secret Oath had gotten the jump by then and was home for a comfortable victory. Desert Dawn kept on for third ahead of Echo Zulu, who was the only one of those involved in the pace to be anywhere close at the finish.

“I rode a lot of good fillies, but this one is pretty special,” Saez said. “It's an honor to be a part of Mr. Wayne [Lukas] because he's a legend. And we win a lot of big races for him, the Travers. And win the Oaks for him, it was like everything for us. So pretty grateful to be a part.

He continued, “She did it pretty easy. I remember at half a mile, I saw everybody in the lead pretty far. And [in] two jumps I was right there. She did it so easy.”

Lukas said all options are on the table for Secret Oath, including the GI Preakness S. in 15 days' time, or the sex-restricted GII Black-Eyed Susan S.

Briland Brilliance on Full Display…

Robert Mitchell and his wife Stacy purchased Secret Oath's then 10-year-old second dam Rockford Peach for $36,000 in foal to Running Stag at the Adena Springs sale at Fasig-Tipton in 2001, and clearly the best of the 11 foals she produced for Briland Farm was her fourth to hit the ground, Absinthe Minded.

Also trained by Lukas, the daughter of the good filly sire Quiet American won two renewals of the Bayakoa S. and the Pippin S. at Oaklawn and was placed twice in the GI Apple Blossom H. Outside of Arkansas, Absinthe Minded was narrowly runner-up in the 2011 GII Shuvee H. and third in that year's GII Molly Pitcher S. All totaled, the mare won six times from 35 starts and bankrolled over $607,000.

The fourth foal for her dam, Secret Oath was cataloged through Bluewater Sales as hip 1242 to the 2020 Keeneland September Sale, but a bit of fate intervened and she was withdrawn.

“She looks like her mother and her sister. She just kind of had that tall, thin, arrogant like,” Robert Mitchell said. “Tall, thin, narrow,” added Stacy.

Robert picked up from there: “That's not the classic commercial horse. And I thought, 'Well, if she looks like her mother, her mother placed in five graded stakes and won a number of graded stakes. Why don't we just pull her out and keep her?'”

Absinthe Minded is the dam of a 2-year-old filly by Medaglia d'Oro and missed when bred back to Arrogate for 2021. She was most recently covered by Unbridled's Song's Lane's End-based son Liam's Map.

 

 

 

Lukas Loving Every Minute of It…

Secret Oath's Oaks success came just a matter of hours after Lukas decided to remove Ethereal Road (Quality Road) from Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby.

“I thought he was a little bit flat,” he explained. “I didn't think that he was moving as well. And I knew that if I ran him in the Derby that I would eliminate the [GI] Preakness [S.] in all consideration. It would just be too many all right in a row.

“So I talked to the owner (Julie Gilbert/Aaron Sones). He was in Hawaii, couldn't be here anyhow. So he said do what you want to do, treat him like you own him. So we took him out. And we'll look at the Preakness in two weeks.”

The reverence and esteem in which Lukas–who still rides out in the mornings–is held was on clear display in the immediate aftermath of Friday's race. Lukas watched the race alongside his former assistant and fellow Oaks-winning trainer Dallas Stewart and 'the Coach' accepted congratulations from and exchanged hugs with former assistant Todd Pletcher in the tunnel.

“Those guys that were so influential in my career and carried me to where we are today, they put me on their shoulders and carried me,” Lukas reflected. “And I know it. I couldn't do it alone. I never could with all the horses we were training. So we're still very tight. It's a close-knit family.”

 

 

Friday, Churchill Downs
LONGINES KENTUCKY OAKS-GI, $1,250,000, Churchill Downs, 5-6, 3yo, f, 1 1/8m, 1:49.44, wf.
1–SECRET OATH, 121, f, 3, by Arrogate
                1st Dam: Absinthe Minded (MSW & MGISP, $607,747), by Quiet American
                2nd Dam: Rockford Peach, by Great Above
                3rd Dam: Strawberry Skyline, by Hatchet Man
1ST GRADE I WIN. O-Briland Farm; B-Briland Farm, Robert & Stacy Mitchell (KY); T-D. Wayne Lukas; J-Luis Saez. $705,250. Lifetime Record: 8-5-0-2, $1,295,417. Werk Nick Rating: F. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
2–Nest, 121, f, 3, by Curlin
                1st Dam: Marion Ravenwood (SW, $112,598), by A.P. Indy
                2nd Dam: Andujar, by Quiet American
                3rd Dam: Nureyev's Best, by Nureyev
($350,000 Ylg '20 KEESEP). O-Repole Stable, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners and Michael House; B-Ashview Farm & Colts Neck Stables (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $227,500.
3–Desert Dawn, 121, f, 3, by Cupid
                1st Dam: Ashley's Glory, by Honour and Glory
                2nd Dam: Ashley Secret, by Dr. Carter
                3rd Dam: Whatever It Takes, by Hatchet Man
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($32,000 RNA Ylg '20 OBSOCT). O/B-H & E Ranch (AZ); T-Philip D'Amato. $113,750.
Margins: 2, HF, HF. Odds: 4.40, 2.40, 50.00.
Also Ran: Echo Zulu, Kathleen O., Shahama, Turnerloose, Cocktail Moments, Candy Raid, Nostalgic, Goddess of Fire, Hidden Connection, Yuugiri, Venti Valentine. Scratched: Beguine.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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