Saratoga: Secret Oath is 'on her game' ahead of Personal Ensign

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

For whatever reason, some horses just do better once they acclimate to Saratoga. Secret Oath, freshened in advance of Friday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign here, appears to be among those relishing the upstate New York venue.

Legendary trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who has seen plenty in his 87 years, likes everything he sees in the 4-year-old daughter of Arrogate as she looks to rebound from a disappointing fifth-place finish in the June 10 Ogden Phipps (G1) at Belmont Park.

“Secret Oath is doing better here than anywhere,” Lukas said. “She’s really on her game.”

Her works back that up. She has produced five solid drills, including five furlongs in 1:00.85 on Saturday in her most recent move, since shipping north from Churchill Downs as she prepares for a confrontation with Nest and Clairiere in the six-horse Personal Ensign. Nest made an auspicious return from an eight-month layoff to best accomplished Clairiere by 2 1/4 lengths in the July 23 Shuvee (G2) at Saratoga.

If any filly can test Nest in the Personal Ensign, Lukas expects it to be Briland Farm’s Secret Oath. “I can’t make any excuses for her. She’s better right now than I’ve ever had her,” he said. “She’s stronger. She’s putting on weight. She’s thriving here.

“I don’t know if it’s the cool nights or what. But she’s diving into her feed tub. She’s just having a heck of a good month.”

This is what breeders and owners Robert and Stacy Mitchell hoped for when they decided to give their prized filly a bit of a break by skipping what wound up being a four-horse Shuvee. Lukas had been interested in running her in the Shuvee.

“I told them I can train her to the Shuvee and Personal Ensign or I can train her to the Personal Ensign,” Lukas recalled. “I said, ‘What you feel will be best for her interests, that is what we’ll do.’ ”

The Mitchell’s have deferred to Lukas for much of Secret Oath’s career. When he wanted her to test males in the Arkansas Derby (G1), they agreed and she ran a respectable third. After she won the Kentucky Oaks (G1), they OK'd another run at the boys in the Preakness. She was checked sharply by jockey Luis Saez in the early going and lacked late punch in winding up fourth.

No one can say without a doubt whether those attempts against males took something out of Secret Oath. The certainty is that she did not win after the Oaks. Following the Preakness, she finished second best in the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) and Alabama (G1), third in the Cotillion Stakes (G1) at Parx and fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at Keeneland. In the Distaff, she forged into the lead at the top of the stretch for Saez only to tire badly and be fifth. It was her ninth start of a campaign that had opened at the end of January.

With Tyler Gaffalione replacing Saez, Secret Oath began this season in promising fashion, dispatching Clairiere by 2 3/4 lengths in the March 11 Azeri Stakes (G2) at Oaklawn Park. But then she placed second to Clairiere in the April 15 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) and missed by a neck to Played Hard in the La Troienne Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs on May 5. She wound up fifth of six in the Ogden Phipps, prompting a comment line of “empty.”

According to Lukas, he is now following a plan mapped out by the Mitchells.

“The ownership, Rob and Stacy Mitchell, they wanted to space her races. They had this theory that she runs better fresh, so they mapped out a schedule,” Lukas said. As of now, the Oct. 8 Spinster (G1) at Keeneland would follow the Personal Ensign and lead into another crack at the Distaff on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

In a phone interview, though, Stacy Mitchell emphasized that their plans are fluid. “She’s always at the top of our consideration,” she said. “It’s not about the check or the trophy or the accolades. It’s about her and when she is ready.”

Although Secret Oath has won once in her last nine starts, her body of work remains admirable with a record of 17: 6-4-3 and more than $2.3 million in earnings.

Mitchell held open the possibility that Secret Oath could continue to compete at 5, depending on how she performs. “That’s not been decided,” she said. “It’s totally up to her.”