Will Sarah's Secret Remain Unbeaten After San Clemente?
Three-year-old filly Sarah’s Secret, who recorded the first of her four straight career-opening victories last summer at Del Mar, returns on Sunday as the likely favorite for the San Clemente.
“She’s always been a nice filly and so far everything has worked out well,” trainer Kathy Walsh said Friday from Los Angeles where she was overseeing preparations for Sarah’s Secret’s ship to Del Mar on Saturday. “We gave her a little time off after the race there last year to develop and she has done everything that has been asked of her.”
Bred in Kentucky by Joan Hadley Thoroughbreds, Sarah’s Secret was a 1 ½-length winner in her racing debut at 5 ½ furlongs on August 10, 2010 at Del Mar. Allowance-level victories at Santa Anita last October and Hollywood Park in May primed Sarah’s Secret for the Grade II, $150,000 Honeymoon Handicap at Hollywood Park on June 11 which resulted in a wire-to-wire half-length score.
The daughter of Leroidesanimaux, whose owning partnership now includes Al and Sandee Kirkwood as well as Hadley, has been on an every-other-one-a-bullet pattern for her last five workouts, whether over the Hollywood Park Cushion Track or Santa Anita dirt. The San Clemente will be the third straight race on turf for Sarah’s Secret. The one-mile distance is a furlong shorter than that of the Honeymoon.
“I don’t think that will affect her at all,” Walsh said.