Arkansas Derby: Secret Oath is in post 6; see full draw

It’s official. The girl will be taking on the boys for the first time in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at 1 1/8 miles Saturday at Oaklawn.

Multiple stakes winner Secret Oath drew post 6 and was among nine horses entered Sunday for the $1.25 million race that is Oaklawn’s final major prep for Kentucky Derby 2022.

The Arkansas Derby will offer 100-40-20-10 points to the top four finishers toward starting eligibility for the Kentucky Derby, which is limited to 20 starters.

Click here for Oaklawn entries and results.

Secret Oath has dominated 3-year-old fillies at the 2021-22 Oaklawn meet, winning her three starts by a combined 23 lengths for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas and breeder-owner Briland Farm, which is run by Robert and Stacy Mitchell.

On Feb. 26 she covered 1 1/16 miles in the Honeybee (G2) 0.95 seconds faster than Un Ojo did the same day over the same course and distance in the Rebel (G2).

Secret Oath secured a spot in the Kentucky Oaks with her 7 1/2-length victory in the Honeybee, but right away Lukas began targeting the Arkansas Derby, which he won with the filly Althea in 1984 and with Tank’s Prospect in 1985.

Althea won a week after she finished second in the Fantasy. Lukas finished third in the 1986 Arkansas Derby with another filly, Family Style, a week after she finished fourth in the Fantasy. Althea and Family Style were both Eclipse Award winners at 2.

Southern California-based Doppelganger had been with Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, a four-time Arkansas Derby winner, before being moved Thursday to Tim Yakteen, a former assistant. The move came because Baffert and his horses were banned from Churchill Downs Inc. tracks after the late Medina Spirit failed a 2021 Kentucky Derby drug test.

Doppelganger exited a runner-up finish in his two-turn debut, the $400,000 San Felipe Stakes (G2), on March 5 at Santa Anita.

Barber Road had his final workout for the Arkansas Derby over a fast track Sunday morning for trainer John Ortiz. He breezed after the surface renovation break, covering a half-mile in 49.40 seconds under exercise rider Elexander Aguilar. Clockers caught Barber Road in 25.20 seconds for his opening quarter-mile and galloping out five furlongs in 1:01.80.

Barber Road worked by himself Sunday after breezing in company leading up to his prior starts this year.

“We were just doing maintenance work with him,” Ortiz said. “He’s more than fit. He’s run over this course three times already. We drilled him pretty hard going into his last race. We know he can get the distance. We know he’s fit as can be, and there nothing else that I can do except to just keep him happy and on his toes.

“It’s funny. Turning him around to go to his workout, he gave us a little Lipizzan leap in front of the grandstand. So he’s on his toes.”

Barber Road, who races for former Walmart executive William Simon, breezed for the second time since finishing third, beaten a half-length, in the Rebel (G2) at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 26.

The consistent Barber Road finished second in Oaklawn’s first two Kentucky Derby points races – the Smarty Jones Stakes at one mile Jan. 1 and the Southwest Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Jan. 29 – and has never finished worse than fourth in his seven-race career.

Also returning from the Rebel are Un Ojo, Kavod, Chasing Time and Ben Diesel, the first, fourth, fifth and eighth finishers, respectively.

We the People is unbeaten in two career starts at the Oaklawn meet for trainer Rodolphe Brisset.

Cyberknife was a sharp allowance winner Feb. 19 at Fair Grounds in his last start for two-time reigning Eclipse Award winner Brad Cox.

Call Me Jamal, a two-time winner at the 2021-22 Oaklawn meeting, was not entered in the Arkansas Derby after emerging from a six-furlong work Sunday morning with a physical issue.