Tag: Racing

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas mapped out a two-race schedule months ago for millionaire Grade 1 winner Secret Oath during the 2022-2023 Oaklawn meeting.

So far, so good.

Secret Oath, flashing the form that stamped her one of the country's top 3-year-old fillies last year, was a powerful 2¾-length winner of the Azeri Stakes (G2) for older fillies and mares Saturday at Oaklawn.

A homebred for Briland Farm (Robert and Stacy Mitchell), Secret Oath was making her first start since a fifth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) at 1 1/8 miles Nov. 5 at Keeneland. Secret Oath exited the Azeri in good order, Lukas said Sunday morning, adding she will be pointed to the $1-million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) for older fillies and mares April 15 at Oaklawn. The Apple Blossom, like the Azeri, is 1 1/16 miles.

Lukas brought Secret Oath up to the Azeri off eight workouts this year at Oaklawn, the first coming Jan. 8. Four were bullets.

“I told a couple of my friends right before the race, I said, 'We've done everything we've wanted to do,' ” Lukas said. “We worked her when we wanted to work her. (Mickaelle Michel) worked her in the time frame – how fast we wanted to go or how slow. We did everything we wanted to do, so we had no excuses going into it. We led her over there and if she ran well or didn't run well, we really wouldn't have changed anything going into it. Nothing.”

Secret Oath, who was ridden for the first time by Tyler Gaffalione, received a preliminary Beyer Speed Figure of 97 for her Azeri victory. The winning time over a fast track was 1:43.26. Secret Oath was winless in five consecutive starts – all in Grade 1 company – since winning last year's Kentucky Oaks (G1) at 1 1/8 miles last May at Churchill Downs.

Secret Oath dominated 3-year-old fillies last season at Oaklawn, scoring blowout victories in the Martha Washington Stakes and Honeybee Stakes (G3). Both races were 1 1/16 miles.

Lukas said Gaffalione would retain the mount on Secret Oath for the Apple Blossom.

“We've got a month,” Lukas said. “She'll probably work twice.”

A daughter of deceased champion Arrogate, Secret Oath won for the sixth time in 14 starts to raise her lifetime earnings to $1,982,267. The Mitchells and Lukas also campaigned Secret Oath's dam, Absinthe Minded, who finished third in the 2011 Azeri and fourth the following year.

The Azeri was Lukas' 348th career Oaklawn victory. His first came in the 1983 Apple Blossom with Miss Huntington.

The post Secret Oath Targets Apple Blossom Following Azeri Win appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Although none of the winners from Race 12 on a 17-race card on Saturday at Remington Park qualified for the finals of the $533,270 Oklahoma Futurity, three American Quarter Horses will forever be remembered for their rare triple dead heat for the win.

Midnight Ryde, the No. 2 horse; Sausalito 100, the No. 3, and Favorite Movie, the No. 7, all hit the finish line at the same time in the race for one of the rarest things one will ever see in horse racing. They all won in the exact same time, their noses hitting the finish line together. A total of seven horses were barely separated in the photo finish. The No. 1 horse, One Kool Eagle, was fourth, a nose behind the three winners. The Nos. 4, 8, and 9 also were involved in one of the closest finishes in track history. The winning time for all three horses was :15.764 at 300 yards on the fast track, while the fourth-place finisher ran it in 15.772.

According to research, a triple dead heat also happened at an Oklahoma racetrack on March 8, 1998 when horses hit the wire together in an 870-yard race at the now-defunct Blue Ribbon Downs track in Sallisaw. In the $7,650 Iron Horse Handicap, there was no separation at the end of the race between Button My Zevis, Legacys Heartbeat, and Lightening Bo.

It also happened in Quarter Horse racing for second-place at Los Alamitos in California on June 6, 2022, in the fifth race when Great Nooz won by a nose and was just that in front of the next three horses – Zoe Diamond, Burning Dream and El Katie Cartel.

The most recent triple dead-heat for win in horse racing appears to be on Jan. 7, 2018 in a harness race at Hawthorne in Chicago when Picky Valor, Keep the Cash and Skyway Jaylo all hit the wire together.

This is how rare it is for three horses to hit the wire together in North American horse racing: When a triple dead heat between Thoroughbreds happened at Evangeline Downs in Louisiana on April 11, 2014, officials there said it was the sixth three-way tie for the win at a U.S. track since 1990.

In track's fifth race, a six-furlong event for $15,000 maiden claimers, all Louisiana-breds, 5-1 All in the Art ($4.60), 25-1 Chessie Slew ($15), and 8-1 Memories of Trina ($6.60) finished on even terms, covering the distance in 1:13.59. The trio finished one length in front of 5-2 favorite Lady Bristineau.

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In a thrilling finish, Fair Grounds-based shipper A Mo Reay was up to tag heavily favored local Fun to Dream by a head in Saturday's main event at Santa Anita, the $500,000 Beholder Mile (G1).

Trained by Brad Cox and ridden by Flavien Prat, A Mo Reay covered the one-mile trip in 1:36.25 over a main track listed as good.

Attentive to the early pace set by Ganadora and pressed by Fun to Dream, A Mo Reay was 1½ lengths off the lead through a half mile. With Ganadora falling back leaving the quarter pole, she engaged the favorite four-deep turning for home and in a resolute effort, gained the upper hand at the finish line.

“When you end up winning it is always better,” said Prat, who collected his third win on the day in his first time aboard A Mo Reay. “She really dug in when it was time to run, and she was travelling well all around. I watched her previous race and I talked to Brad (who watched the race from Oaklawn Park) and he was really high on her and really wanted her in this race. He was right.”

Fresh off victory in the 1 1/16-mile Bayakoa Stakes (G3) Feb. 4 at Oaklawn, A Mo Reay took the listed Pago Hop at Fair Grounds two starts back and in her first West Coast appearance, was off at 7-1 in a field of eight older fillies and mares and returned $17.80 for the win.

“Brad has a great team and they all did a fantastic job,” said Adrian Regan, who is part of the winning ownership that races as Hunter Valley Farm. “It's the first Grade 1 in our colors, so it's special. It is just great for the farm…everybody at home. It is unbelievable, really.”

A 4-year-old filly by Uncle Mo out of the Pioneerof the Nile mare Margaret Reay, A Mo Reay was bred by T & G Farm of Kentucky. She is unbeaten in three starts for Cox after racing under trainer Todd Pletcher for owners My Racehorse Stable and Spendthrift Farm LLC. A Mo Reay was a $400,000 purchase by Green Acres Farm last November at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall mixed sale, where Taylor Made Sales Agency consigned her. The Beholder Mile win was her her first at Grade 1 level and she improved her overall mark to 5-1-3 from 11 lifetime starts. The $300,000 winner's share of the purse increased her lifetime earnings to $692,650.

One of three Bob Baffert trainees and the lone California-bred in the lineup, Fun to Dream entered the Beholder Mile on a roll, having won the La Brea (G1) on Dec. 26 and Santa Monica (G2), both at seven panels at Santa Anita, on Dec. 26 and Feb. 2, respectively, and was seeking her fifth win in a row.

Off at 4-5 as she stretched out a furlong with Juan Hernandez up, Fun to Dream finished second, 2 ¼ lengths in front of stablemate Midnight Memories.

Ridden by Ramon Vazquez, Midnight Memories checked in 1 ¼ lengths in front of comebacking Desert Dawn.

Fractions on the Beholder Mile were :23.19, :47.14, 1:10.79, and 1:22.99.

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