It’s no secret: Lukas going all in on filly
BALTIMORE — D. Wayne Lukas sat atop his pony just after 6 a.m. and stared at Secret Oath while she got a bath following her first trip to the track at Pimlico Race Course.
“The whole time she was out there she never put her ears down — they were always up,” he said. “She might be the most alert one I’ve ever had.”
Lukas believes she could be one of the best fillies he has ever had. That belief and her winning the Kentucky Oaks in impressive fashion the day before the Derby inspired him to enter Secret Oath in the Preakness Stakes, where she could give the 86-year-old Hall of Fame trainer a record-tying seventh win in the second jewel of the Triple Crown.
“She gives you reason every day to feel good,” Lukas said from his usual spot in the corner of the stakes barn at Pimlico, where he holds court every morning as horse racing’s elder statesman. “The best is still in front of her.”
The best horse in the Derby isn’t in the way, after the owner of Rich Strike decided not to run him in the Preakness after the 80-1 upset at Churchill Downs. To become the seventh filly to win the Preakness, Secret Oath will have to beat favorite and Derby runner-up Epicenter, which would put her in the company of 2009 champion Rachel Alexandra and Swiss Skydiver, who beat Authentic in this race in 2020.
Lukas knows all about fantastic female horses, having trained 15 who won the Eclipse Award for the top filly of the year. Winning Colors in 1988 became one of just three fillies to win the Kentucky Derby, and Secret Oath two weeks ago gave him a fifth victory in the Oaks.
She could have run in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday, but Lukas was willing to roll the dice on Secret Oath being better than the colts this time after finishing third in the Arkansas Derby in April.
“She’ll catch them. Whether she will run by them, we’ll find out,” said Lukas, who cited Secret Oath’s turn of foot as her biggest asset. “She’s got that acceleration. She runs along with them. And when they ask her to move, she’s got a devastating kick. She breaks their hearts.”