All three Southwest undercard black-type events have also been moved to Feb. 3. They include the Martha Washington S. for 3-year-old fillies offering points on a 20-10-6-4-2 basis toward the GI Kentucky Oaks, as well as the American Beauty S. for filles and mares three and up and the King Cotton S. for horses three and up.

“The Southwest and Martha Washington are important preps for our 3-year-old stakes program,” said Oaklawn President Louis Cella. “They are also important points races for the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks. It is important for our horsemen to have ample opportunities to train their horses properly for the races. Not only has this winter weather forced us to cancel racing, but our horsemen have also missed some training days.”

The Southwest will join three other 20-point Derby preps also scheduled for Feb. 3: the GIII Withers S. at Aqueduct, the GIII Robert B. Lewis S. at Santa Anita, and the GIII Holy Bull S. at Gulfstream. The entire Southwest card will be drawn Sunday, Jan. 28 with the same races originally listed in the condition book for Jan. 27.

The GIII Bayakoa S., originally scheduled for Feb. 3, has been bumped back to Feb. 2 to accommodate the new schedule. In addition, the listed Fifth Season S., originally set for this Saturday, Jan. 20, will now be run Jan. 27. It will be redrawn.

Live racing at Oaklawn is scheduled to resume next Friday, Jan. 26 with a first post at 12:30 p.m. CST.

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Breaking her maiden Oct. 31 by over five lengths beneath the Twin Spires in her second career start, Secret Oath came up empty finishing a well-beaten fifth in the GII Golden Rod S. next out Nov. 27. After dominating her allowance rivals with a visually impressive score with first-time Lasix last out Dec. 31 at Oaklawn Park, she returned just as brilliantly here.

Coming off Lasix for this race, and sent off an overwhelming 1-2 favorite, she broke in line with the field before being forced into the first turn widest of all when rivals to her inside ended up in no rush to push for Optionality's lead. Tracking the uncontested leader from fourth up the backstretch through easy fractions, Secret Oath was keen to get rolling before the bunched field hit the midway point on the final turn. Without being asked, the flashy chestnut cruised by her rivals coming to the top of the lane and was three in front by the final sixteenth. Optionality could only watch from second as the D. Wayne Lukas trainee disappeared from her competition, winning by an easy 7 1/4 lengths and earning 10 Kentucky Oaks points. Secret Oath is the first stakes winner for her Hall of Fame trainer since Warrior's Club (Warrior's Reward) won the GIII Commonwealth S. in April 2018.

“I had a great trip,” jockey Luis Contreras said. “She's a really good filly. I just tried to keep her covered as much as I could. She was fighting with me. She wanted to go every single step of the race… When I put her outside, she just exploded.”

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas added, “It was a replay [of her last race] and that's what we were looking for. That consistency is now coming and we're getting that maturity, as far as a professional racehorse. She's been very manageable, but she was a little immature before. But I think it's coming together now and we've just got to keep her happy and fat and we'll go down the road.”

Secret Oath becomes the second stakes winner for the late Arrogate. Out of Oaklawn specialist and two-time Bayakoa S. victress Absinthe Minded, Secret Oath joins her dam as a stakes winner in Hot Springs. The mare also finished third and second, respectively starting in 2011, in successive years in the track's marquee race for the ladies, the GI Apple Blossom H. The third filly to find a winner's circle for the broodmare, and the first stakes horse, Secret Oath also has an unnamed 2-year-old half-sister by Medaglia d'Oro. The mare is expecting a foal by Liam's Map this season.

MARTHA WASHINGTON S., $200,000, Oaklawn, 1-29, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:46.21, ft.
1–SECRET OATH, 122, 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 BLACK TYPE WIN. O-Briland Farm; B-Briland Farm, Robert
& Stacy Mitchell (KY); T-D. Wayne Lukas; J-Luis Contreras.
$120,000. Lifetime Record: 5-3-0-1, $285,167.
2–Optionality, 122, f, 3, Gun Runner–Simplify, by Pulpit.
O/B-Winchell Thoroughbreds LLC; T-Steven M. Asmussen.
$40,000.
3–Como Square, 122, f, 3, Into Mischief–Pangburn, by
Congrats. 1ST BLACK TYPE. O/B-Shortleaf Stable, Inc.; T-Brad Cox. $20,000.
Margins: 7 1/4, 4 3/4, 2. Odds: 0.50, 3.50, 6.00.
Also Ran: Hypersport, Princess Pauline, Cupid's Music.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

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Secret Oath upheld the family tradition in Hot Springs with an eye-catching one-mile allowance victory for 2-year-old fillies on Dec. 31 for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. The Mitchells (Briland Farm) bred and own Secret Oath, who is by deceased champion Arrogate out of their prized broodmare and multiple Oaklawn stakes winner, Absinthe Minded.

Secret Oath's 8 ¼-length margin of victory was the largest in Oaklawn history in a 2-year-old route race and propelled her into the lineup for the $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes Jan. 29. The 1 1/16-mile Martha Washington is Oaklawn's first of three points races for the Kentucky Oaks, the country's biggest event for 3-year-old fillies.

“I would just say we're keeping our expectations in check,” Robert Mitchell said on New Year's Day. “I mean, this was an allowance race. She ran a good race. She had a great acceleration at the end. But a lot of things happen in the horse business.”

Secret Oath's victory came a little more than 20 years after the Mitchells (husband and wife) began building their small breeding operation by paying $1 to acquire Chao Praya, an unraced daughter of Gold Legend. Owing to a light pedigree and bad foot, Robert Mitchell said Chao Praya's owners wanted to give her away, but he settled on $1 as “sort of a proof of purchase.”

Bred to Level Sands, Chao Praya produced Level Playingfield, a Grade 3 winner of $664,822 for Bob Holthus, Oaklawn's all-time leading trainer, and Arkansas owner Lorene Jones (Fly Racing). Level Playingfield was a four-time allowance winner at Oaklawn (2004, 2005 and 2006).

Chao Praya also produced Imposing Grace, a daughter of Empire Maker who won the $150,000 Arlington Matron Stakes (G3) in 2013 at Arlington Park for trainer Wayne Catalano and owner Coffeepot Stables. The Mitchells bred both Level Playingfield and Imposing Grace, who sold for $75,000 as a yearling.

“So, our $1 first broodmare we ever bought produced two Grade 3 winners,” Mitchell said. “That's just kind of how we got started.”

The Mitchells now board approximately a half-dozen broodmares on their 90-acre Briland Farm in Lexington. Among them is Absinthe Minded, a homebred daughter of Quiet American who compiled a 6-6-3 race record from 35 lifetime starts and earned $607,747.

Absinthe Minded, also trained by Lukas, did her best work at Oaklawn, winning the $100,000 Bayakoa Stakes for older fillies and mares in 2011, $75,000 Pippin Stakes for older fillies and mares in 2012, and the $100,000 Bayakoa again in 2012.

The first two foals out of Absinthe Minded to reach the races, full sisters La Fee Verte and Sara Sea, also were winners at Oaklawn for Briland and Lukas in 2019 and 2020, respectively. La Fee Verte and the robust Sara Sea are daughters of 2000 Horse of the Year Tiznow. Secret Oath is from Arrogate's first crop.

“Some horses like certain tracks,” Robert Mitchell said. “She looks a lot like her mother. They're both kind of tall, thin, long-striding horses. I kind of think sometimes the Oaklawn track's a little tiring on some horses, and they have a long stride to them and that may give them an advantage. I don't know. I've had horses do bad at Oaklawn. They have done fairly well there.”

Secret Oath was coming off a fifth-place finish in the $400,000 Golden Rod Stakes (G2) at 1 1/16 miles Nov. 27 at Churchill Downs. She had broken her maiden by 5 ¼ lengths at 1 1/16 miles Oct. 31 at Churchill Downs.

Paired for the first time with jockey Luis Contreras in the allowance event, Secret Oath raced well off the early pace and waited briefly in traffic reeling in the leaders on the second turn. Secret Oath moved three-wide turning for home and drew off in the final furlong. Her winning time of 1:37.38 over a fast track generated a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 93, among the highest in the country for a 2-year-old in 2021.

“That's the filly we've been waiting on all along,” Lukas said after training hours Wednesday morning. “She put it all together that day. That's the filly that we've been training and we see every day. She's pretty special.”

Lukas was using the allowance race, which had no conditions, as a prep for the Martha Washington, a race he won in 2010 with Decelerator and 2015 with juvenile filly champion Take Charge Brandi.

Lukas has trained approximately 13 years for the Mitchells, who normally have no more than three horses in training. Lukas also has another horse for the couple at Oaklawn, Double Speak, an unstarted 3-year-old filly by multiple Grade 1 winner and 2003 Oaklawn Handicap champion Medaglia d'Oro.

Double Speak is out of multiple stakes winner Tempus Fugit, a Briland homebred who finished 11th in the 2003 Kentucky Oaks. Another daughter of Tempus Fugit, Impasse, broke her maiden by seven lengths in allowance company for Lukas and Briland at the 2017 Oaklawn meeting.

Briland's first foals to race were born in 2000. Normally, Robert Mitchell said, no more than five foals are born each year at Briland, which emphasizes quality over quantity.

“My wife, basically, does most of it (foaling), but we foal every horse on our farm,” Mitchell said. “We've never put a horse on the track that wasn't born on our farm. We've never bought one. In other words, we've never bought a race horse. We've just bred exclusively. I know there's syndicates of people that like to buy horses after they win and that's probably good. That's a good thing for them. But for us, we just want to take pride in we're only going to race the horses that we breed.”

Mitchell said recently retired Sara Sea has joined Briland's broodmare band and is to be bred this year to multiple Grade 1 winner Liam's Map. Absinthe Minded also is booked back to Liam's Map, he said.

“We tend to keep the fillies so we can have more broodmares, and obviously there's an economic consideration and how they look,” Robert Mitchell said. “And all those play into it, but we tend to keep the fillies, generally, and tend to sell the colts. But we also sell fillies, too. Our philosophy is flexibility.”

The Mitchells plan to race an unnamed 2-year-old filly out of Absinthe Minded. By Medaglia d'Oro, the filly is about to be sent to Florida to be started by Randy Bradshaw, a former Lukas assistant. Bradshaw also broke Secret Oath.

“This is the fruit of our work,” Stacy Mitchell said. “This is my full-time job. Stay out there with the mares and foal the babies and meet the vets. I'm just going all the time.”

The Dec. 31 allowance race was the last for 2-year-olds in 2021 at Oaklawn. Because of its December opening, Oaklawn was able to card 2-year-old races for the first time since 1975 at the expanded 2021-2022 meeting. The handful of route races for 2-year-olds were the first since 1945, when Oaklawn ran a fall meet because of World War II.

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The 3-year-old daughter of Honor Code, who defeated older $50,000 maidens to graduate in her ninth career start last time out, surged between horses in late stretch to win by a neck in the mile turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies.

“I'm very surprised,” said Dwoskin, who opted to run the Kentucky-bred filly in the stakes restricted to 3-year-olds than give her another chance with older fillies and mares. “It was better to go against 3-year-olds than against older horses.”

Starship Nterprise saved ground while settling off an early pace contested by Hana Lima and Karakatsie during fractions of 24.36 and 48.05 seconds for the first half-mile. Karakatsie, the 9-5 favorite ridden by Edwin Gonzalez, moved to the lead entering the stretch with Charges Dropped looming as a danger along the rail. Starship Nterprise, who cut the corner in to the stretch kicked in with a powerful drive between horses to surge late to claim the victory under Miguel Vasquez.

Karakatsie, who finished second behind Con Lima in the May 1 Powder Break Stakes at Gulfstream, held off Charges Drop by a half-length to finish second.

Starship Nterprise ran a mile over a firm turf course in 1:36.74 to notch her second straight victory.

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If it's still a race against Father Time, Court is winning.

Now 60, Court turned back the clock – again – Saturday afternoon at Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Ark., when he guided Will's Secret to a 5 ¼-length victory in the $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 1 mile.

The Martha Washington was Court's 689th career Oaklawn victory, 34th career Oaklawn stakes victory and first stakes victory as a sexagenarian. He turned 60 Nov. 26.

“At 60, it's amazing,” Court said moments after winning at Oaklawn in a fifth decade. “I'm just very, very fortunate and thankful to the higher powers. Taking care of my health, I was able to do that.”

A year after launching his riding career, Court won 10 races as an apprentice at the 1981 Oaklawn meeting and recorded his first career stakes victory in Hot Springs aboard Earl's Good Time in the $50,000 American Beauty Handicap Feb. 22, 1985. Court was Oaklawn's leading rider in 2000 and has been a fixture in the standings for much of the past two decades, although he was winless in 2020 after missing most of the meet because of a collapsed lung and cracked ribs sustained in an accident going to the gate before a race in February. Court also was sidelined several months after the Oaklawn meet with a wrist injury.

The Martha Washington was Court's first victory with Becky Esch, the jockey's new agent. Esch said when Court's former agent Steve Krajcir called last fall to inquire if she would be interested in taking another rider for the 2021 meet, she initially believed it was Kelsi Harr, Oaklawn's leading apprentice last year.

“I thought he was talking about her,” said Esch, the longtime agent of Walter De La Cruz. “When he told me that he was talking about Jon, I said, 'Are you kidding?' He's a household name around here.”

Krajcir again represents Harr at Oaklawn, along with De La Cruz's brother, Fernando.

Will's Secret, a homebred for Willis Horton of Marshall, Ark., represented Court's final victory in 2020 and first this year. Trained by Dallas Stewart, Will's Secret broke her maiden in a 1 1/16-mile off-the-turf maiden specials weights race Dec. 20 at Fair Grounds. In her stakes and 3-year-old debut, Will's Secret ($18) recorded the most lopsided Martha Washington victory since Rachel Alexandra began her Horse of the Year campaign with an eight-length romp in 2009.

“She's push button,” Court said. “She'll give you the speed when you need it and she'll sit off it. She continues to deliver every time you ask her. Any time in the race, she's pretty much push button.”

Court said the Martha Washington, Oaklawn's first of three Kentucky Oaks points races, had added significance because it was for Horton, best known for campaigning Eclipse Award winners Will Take Charge (the sire of Will's Secret) and Take Charge Brandi.

Court won the $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes and the $600,000 Rebel Stakes (G2) aboard Will Take Charge in 2013 at Oaklawn, victories at 12-1 and 28-1, respectively, that helped the colt secure a 3-year-old championship. Court won the 2015 Martha Washington aboard odds-on favorite Take Charge Brandi, who was the country's champion 2-year-old filly of 2014. Court and Horton also teamed to win the first division of the 2019 Rebel with Long Range Toddy, who, at odds of 8-1, upset future Eclipse Award winner Improbable.

“These silks mean a lot to me,” Court said. “Six years ago, I won this race for the Hortons, and here we are back again. The odds weren't quite as favoring, but it was a pretty awesome experience to win. You know me, I'm known for pulling off long shots. It's just what I do.”

According to Equibase, racing's official data gathering organization, Court entered Sunday with 4,194 career North American victories to rank 63^rd in history. Court ranked 52^nd in North American history in career purse earnings ($108,191,731).

Retirement? No way, the jockey said. After all, Court's still in session.

“I feel great,” Court said. “That (retirement) is always brought to my attention. I'll do like Scott Stevens says: I am retired. I'm winning races doing it now. I'm really having fun doing it.”

Will's Secret earned 10 points toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Oaks with her Martha Washington victory. She ranks ninth on the Kentucky Oaks leaderboard, according to Churchill Downs.

Oaklawn's Kentucky Oaks series continues with the $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) March 6 and the $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) April 3. Stewart said next-race plans are pending for Will's Secret, who has been based at Fair Grounds.

“She's a real nice filly,” Stewart said. “She's got a nice future ahead of her.”

Stewart and Horton teamed to win the 2006 Kentucky Oaks with Lemons Forever.

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A 3-year-old Kentucky-bred by Will Take Charge, who won an Eclipse Award for Horton as champion 3-year-old male in 2013, Will's Secret is trained by Dallas Stewart. He covered one mile on a muddy track in 1:38.7 and paid $18 to win.

Court allowed Will's Secret to sit in the pocket just behind pacesetter Joy's Rocket, who was engaged by Lady Lilly and Sylvia Q through much of the Martha Washington. Fractions were :23.1, :47.35 and 1:12.37 for the first six furlongs.

Court Will's Secret to the outside on the far turn, rallying around the three frontrunners and was four wide into the stretch. Lady Lilly was the first to yield, with Sylvia Q then dropping back. That left Joy's Rocket on the lead, and Will's Secret quickly put her away and drew off for the win. Coach was up late to get the runner-up spot under Florent Geroux by a half length over Joy's Rocket.

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Probable post time for the Martha Washington, which drew a field of six, is 3:06 p.m. (Central). It goes as the fifth of nine races on the program. First post Saturday, Day 5 of the scheduled 57-day meeting, is 1 p.m.

The Martha Washington will offer 17 points (10-4-2-1, respectively) to the top four finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Oaks (G1) April 30 at Churchill Downs. The Kentucky Oaks is the country's biggest race for 3-year-old fillies. Oaklawn's Kentucky Oaks points series continues with the $300,000 Honeybee Stakes (G3) March 6 and the $600,000 Fantasy Stakes (G3) April 3. The Honeybee will offer 85 points (50-20-10-5) to the top four finishers, with 170 points (100-40-20-10) up for grabs in the Fantasy.

Oaklawn-raced horses flourished on last year's revamped road to the Kentucky Oaks. Honeybee winner Shedaresthedevil captured the Kentucky Oaks, which was moved from early May to early September because of COVID-19. Fantasy winner Swiss Skydiver finished second in the Kentucky Oaks before toppling males in the Preakness, the traditional second leg of horse racing's Triple Crown, in her next start.

Trainer Brad Cox, who also trained Shedaresthedevil, has the 7-5 program favorite Saturday in Coach, who won her first three career starts before concluding her 2-year-old campaign with a third-place finish behind stablemate Travel Column in the $200,000 Golden Rod Stakes (G2) Nov. 28 at Churchill Downs.

“There's some speed in there and it's a small field,” Cox said. “Hopefully, the speed doesn't get too far away from her. It's a 1-mile race, it's a great purse, and, hopefully, she can start her march toward, what we hope, is the Kentucky Oaks. That would be the ultimate goal with her.”

After starting her career with two blowout victories at Indiana Grand, Coach won the $98,000 Rags to Riches Overnight Stakes Oct. 25 at Churchill Downs in her two-turn debut. She was beaten 3 ½ lengths in the Golden Rod, also at 1 1/16 miles.

“She does like Churchill,” Cox said. “She's a good filly. She stepped up and had a great 2-year-old season and, hopefully, she'll improve as a 3-year-old. She's definitely been training like she's improved. We like the way she's been training at Oaklawn. I feel like she's moved forward with her training. Hopefully, she can transfer that to the afternoons.”

The projected Martha Washington field from the rail out: Joy's Rocket, Ricardo Santana Jr. to ride, 122 pounds, 5-2 on the morning line; Novel Squall, Ramon Vazquez, 115, 15-1; Coach, Florent Geroux, 122, 7-5; Will's Secret, Jon Court, 115, 6-1; Lady Lilly, David Cabrera, 119, 9-2; and Sylvia Q, Martin Garcia, 115, 5-1.

Joy's Rocket will be making her two-turn debut for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen after winning the $75,000 Letellier Memorial Stakes Dec. 19 at Fair Grounds in her last start. Asmussen, a two-time Martha Washington winner, also will send out Golden Rod seventh Lady Lilly.

Will's Secret exits a 1 1/16-mile off-the-turf maiden special weights victory Dec. 20 at Fair Grounds for trainer Dallas Stewart and breeder/owner Willis Horton of Marshall, Ark.

Horton won the 2015 Martha Washington with champion Take Charge Brandi.

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