Looking back: Day just a 'passenger' in Lady's Secret's Breeders' Cup
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Photo:
Breeders' Cup photo
Although she had already won nine graded stakes, seven of them Grade 1s, from 14 starts in 1986, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Klein’s Lady’s Secret didn’t have Horse of the Year honors firmly in her grasp until she demolished seven rivals going a mile and one quarter in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 1, 1986, at Santa Anita Park.
And although some in racing may downplay the significance of final time, her 2:01 1/5 was a tick faster than Skywalker’s 2:02 2/5 an hour and 15 minutes later in the $3 million Classic.
Trained by D. Wayne Lukas and ridden by Pat Day, Lady’s Secret, a grey daughter of Secretariat, out of Great Lady M., by Icecapade, was foaled in Oklahoma on April 8, 1982. Off as the 1-2 favorite along with stablemate Twilight Ridge, she won by 2 ½ lengths and paid $3.00 to win in what was her 15th and final start of the year.
As was her custom, the diminutive Lady’s Secret, who broke from post position five, darted to the front heading into the Club House turn, with California-bred Fran’s Valentine and Bill Shoemaker in hot pursuit. Passing the half mile pole, Lady’s Secret had opened up a five length advantage and the Distaff was essentially over.
“I was a really good passenger that day,” said Day by telephone from his home in Louisville. “I let her come away from there, took a long hold and let her do her thing. She always wanted to drift just a little bit and Wayne reminded me of that. He said if she wanted to drift out coming off the turn, ‘Go ahead and let her and come on home.’”
With Horse of the Year very much on everyone’s mind, Day was scheduled to ride the Gary Jones-conditioned Turkoman, who would square off with another Horse of the Year candidate, Precisionist, two races later in the $3 million Classic. Turkoman would finish second and Precisionist third, behind Skywalker. And although he would be named Eclipse Award Champion Older Horse, Turkoman’s prospects for Horse of the Year were effectively tanked.
“I knew they were both in the running, but I really wasn’t thinking along those lines,” said Day when asked if he was aware of the fact that both of his prized mounts were leading candidates for the same award. “I knew they both had had great years and I wanted to win both of those races and leave the results in the hands of those that had a vote.”
A self-made mega millionaire who had parlayed his ability to sell cars in the post war era into becoming one of America’s most recognizable sportsmen, three-time Eclipse Award winner Eugene Klein, who also owned the NFL’s San Diego Chargers, redefined “high profile connections” when teamed with Lukas and racing’s “Iron Lady” on the sport’s biggest stages.
“It wasn’t one of those years where a particular horse had dominated,” said Lukas from Louisville, where he is recovering from back surgery. “So, it got down to what the Breeders’ Cup is supposed to do, crown a champion and make it so if you do crown one Horse of the Year, you don’t have to explain it to everybody.
“Lady’s Secret was so typical of Gene himself. Very brassy. ‘To hell with ’em, let’s take ’em on. We’ll run anywhere, get ’em in the gate, let’s go.’ That’s the attitude, you know? And that’s how she was…She was bred in Oklahoma and she was so small, but so tough, so tough. Gene was an ideal owner, really. He knew how to win and he knew how to lose. He knew that you could draft the best players and not all of them were going to play in the NFL. He knew that you could give x-dollars for a yearling and it wasn’t always gonna be a Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap winner.
“He was just wonderful as far as dealing with him as a client. He didn’t want to know how fast they worked in the morning and ‘What’s the plan?’ He wanted to know, ‘What the hell’s the purse and where do we go? We’re gonna have some fun and let’s do this.’”
Lukas, who has gone on to win 20 Breeders’ Cup races and five Eclipse Awards, was in the midst of a reign of dominance in which his late son Jeff was an integral part.
“Jeff was a stellar horseman,” said Day. “Jeff and Wayne did a tremendous job overseeing Lady’s Secret every day and bringing her up to that race. If she got beat that day, it was gonna be because she got outrun. It wasn’t gonna be because she didn’t have enough gas in the tank.”
With Easy Goer ranking as the best horse he ever rode, where does Lady’s Secret, who retired the following year with 25 wins (11 of them Grade 1) from 45 starts and earnings of more than $3 million and, along with Day and Lukas, be enshrined in racing’s Hall of Fame, fit on Pat Day’s all-time list?
“She’d have to be right up there, close to the top.”
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