Owner says fracture ended Secret Oath's racing career

Owner and breeder Robert Mitchell shed new light on the injury that will keep Secret Oath from Sunday’s Grade 1 Spinster Stakes at Keeneland and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, telling Horse Racing Nation that the issue is undoubtedly career-ending.

“I wanted to race her next year,” he said, “but it just ain’t going to happen.”

According to Mitchell, an extensive examination of the Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington revealed a right front non-displaced sesamoid fracture that is inoperable. She had been training sharply for the Spinster and was viewed as one of the main contenders in that race.

“It’s terrible. I wanted to go to the Spinster. I thought we had a really good shot at winning that,” he said. “I wanted to go to the Breeders’ Cup.”

He emphasized that the 4-year-old daughter of Arrogate is not lame as she recuperates at his Briland Farm in Lexington and has been cleared to serve as a broodmare. He anticipates heavy demand for her when she is sold as part of Fasig-Tipton’s Night of the Stars on Nov. 7.

“She is the heir apparent to the female bloodline of Arrogate. Her pedigree is such that she can mate with Into Mischief, Tapit, Curlin, Uncle Mo,” Mitchell said, referring to the hottest sires. “Her pedigree is such that she can go with almost anybody out there.”

He added, “She has never been unsound or never missed a day of racing until this happened.”

Secret Oath, trained by legendary D. Wayne Lukas, closes her career with an 18: 6-5-3 record for earnings of $2,444,767. Although she won only once after the Oaks, taking the March 11 Azeri Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park, she was a runner-up five times in Grade 1 contests.

She also acquitted herself well whenever she was asked to take on the boys. She finished third in the Arkansas Derby (G1) in what served as a prep for the Oaks, where she turned back eventual 3-year-old champion Nest by two lengths. She took fourth in the Preakness.

Mitchell emphasized how much Secret Oath means to him and his wife, Stacy.

“She has been such a blessing for us. She wasn’t a yearling that I spent millions of dollars for hoping she would turn into something as she got older. She was a yearling that I sent to the sale and no one was really interested in and I decided to keep her myself,” he said. “So she means a lot to me because she’s a homebred and I still own her mother and I own two of her sisters and I still own her.”

Mitchell noted that Secret’s Oath’s dam, Absinthe Minded, is in foal to the great Flightline. Although the couple oversees a modest breeding operation, he is optimistic another star will come into their lives at some point.

“I hope to do it again,” he said.