Secret Oath (USA)
March 20, 2019 – Living
Arrogate (USA) x Starship Warpspeed (USA), by Congrats (USA)
Family 9-f
March 20, 2019 – Living
Arrogate (USA) x Starship Warpspeed (USA), by Congrats (USA)
Family 9-f
D. Wayne Lukas had his first Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1) winner in 1982, when Blush With Pride raced to victory. Forty years later, the veteran trainer scored his fifth Kentucky Oaks win at the age of 86 with Secret Oath, who enabled him to tie Woody Stephens’s long-standing record as the king of Oaks trainers. Although Secret Oath did not win another Grade 1 race during her career, the consistent filly competed honorably against both males and the best of her division. She is now a young broodmare at Spendthrift Farm.
Race record
18 starts, 6 wins, 5 seconds, 3 thirds, US$2,444,767
2022:
2023:
Assessments
Rated at 117 pounds in the Mile category on the 2022 Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings, 23 pounds below overall highweight Flightline (the American Horse of the Year) and 1 pound below American champion 3-year-old filly Nest.
Rated at 115 pounds in the Mile category on the 2023 Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings, 20 pounds below overall highweight Equinox (the Japanese Horse of the Year) and 2 pounds below the highweighted fillies or mares on dirt, Idiomatic (the official divisional champion) and Clariere.
As an individual
A chestnut mare, Secret Oath is strongly made and could deliver a big, sweeping move during her races. She had a willing nature during training. She retired from racing due to inflammation in her right front ankle following her last start, the 2023 Personal Ensign Stakes.
As a producer
Secret Oath’s first foal is a 2025 filly by Into Mischief.
Connections
Foaled In Kentucky, Secret Oath was a second-generation homebred for Robert and Stacy Mitchell’s Briland Farm. She was trained by D. Wayne Lukas and was ridden to her Kentucky Oaks victory by Luis Saez, In 2023, she was sold to Spendthrift Farm through Fasig-Tipton’s November “Night of the Stars” sale for US$3 million.
Pedigree notes
Secret Oath is inbred 4x3 to 1981 Metropolitan Handicap (USA-G1) winner and important sire Fappiano and 5x5x4 to Fappiano’s sire, two-time American champion sire Mr. Prospector. She is out of Grade 1-placed listed stakes winner Absinthe Minded, whose dam Rockford Peach (by Great Above) is a winning half sister to 1997 Puerto Rican champion older male El Ordenador (by Slew the Knight).
Strawberry Skyline (by Hatchet Man), the dam of Rockford Peach, is an unraced half sister to restricted stakes winner Wimborne Sky (by Sir Wimborne). The next dam in Secret Oath’s tail-female line, Drylook (by Sky High II), is a half sister to stakes winner Addemup (by Amazing) and to Flying Flunky (by Olden Times), dam of stakes winners Bold Flunky (by Nasty and Bold), Flunky Home (by Circle Home), and Green Eyes (by Green Dancer). Produced from the unraced Vertex mare Pamela Sue, Drylook is also a half sister to You Will Like It (by Amazing), dam of stakes winners It’s Good (by Matsadoon) and Cheerfy (by Two Davids) and second dam of five stakes winners including Argentine Group 2 winner Carlacho and Grade 3 winner Burt’s Dream.
Books and media
Footage of Secret Oath’s Kentucky Oaks win can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GfB0fK4yk8.
Fun facts
Last updated: March 8, 2025
Race record
18 starts, 6 wins, 5 seconds, 3 thirds, US$2,444,767
2022:
- Won Longines Kentucky Oaks (USA-G1, 9FD, Churchill Downs)
- Won Honeybee Stakes (USA-G3, 8.5FD, Oaklawn Park)
- Won Martha Washington Stakes (USA-L, 8.5FD, Oaklawn Park)
- 2nd Coaching Club American Oaks (USA-G1, 9FD, Saratoga)
- 2nd Alabama Stakes (USA-G1, 10FD, Saratoga)
- 3rd Arkansas Derby (USA-G1, 9FD, Oaklawn Park)
- 3rd Cotillion Stakes (USA-G1, 8.5FD, Parx Racing)
2023:
- Won Azeri Stakes (USA-G2, 8.5FD, Oaklawn Park)
- 2nd Apple Blossom Stakes (USA-G1, 8.5FD, Oaklawn Park)
- 2nd La Troienne Stakes (USA-G1, 8.5FD, Churchill Downs)
- 2nd Perdsonal Ensign Stakes (USA-G1, 9FD, Saratoga)
Assessments
Rated at 117 pounds in the Mile category on the 2022 Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings, 23 pounds below overall highweight Flightline (the American Horse of the Year) and 1 pound below American champion 3-year-old filly Nest.
Rated at 115 pounds in the Mile category on the 2023 Longines World's Best Racehorse Rankings, 20 pounds below overall highweight Equinox (the Japanese Horse of the Year) and 2 pounds below the highweighted fillies or mares on dirt, Idiomatic (the official divisional champion) and Clariere.
As an individual
A chestnut mare, Secret Oath is strongly made and could deliver a big, sweeping move during her races. She had a willing nature during training. She retired from racing due to inflammation in her right front ankle following her last start, the 2023 Personal Ensign Stakes.
As a producer
Secret Oath’s first foal is a 2025 filly by Into Mischief.
Connections
Foaled In Kentucky, Secret Oath was a second-generation homebred for Robert and Stacy Mitchell’s Briland Farm. She was trained by D. Wayne Lukas and was ridden to her Kentucky Oaks victory by Luis Saez, In 2023, she was sold to Spendthrift Farm through Fasig-Tipton’s November “Night of the Stars” sale for US$3 million.
Pedigree notes
Secret Oath is inbred 4x3 to 1981 Metropolitan Handicap (USA-G1) winner and important sire Fappiano and 5x5x4 to Fappiano’s sire, two-time American champion sire Mr. Prospector. She is out of Grade 1-placed listed stakes winner Absinthe Minded, whose dam Rockford Peach (by Great Above) is a winning half sister to 1997 Puerto Rican champion older male El Ordenador (by Slew the Knight).
Strawberry Skyline (by Hatchet Man), the dam of Rockford Peach, is an unraced half sister to restricted stakes winner Wimborne Sky (by Sir Wimborne). The next dam in Secret Oath’s tail-female line, Drylook (by Sky High II), is a half sister to stakes winner Addemup (by Amazing) and to Flying Flunky (by Olden Times), dam of stakes winners Bold Flunky (by Nasty and Bold), Flunky Home (by Circle Home), and Green Eyes (by Green Dancer). Produced from the unraced Vertex mare Pamela Sue, Drylook is also a half sister to You Will Like It (by Amazing), dam of stakes winners It’s Good (by Matsadoon) and Cheerfy (by Two Davids) and second dam of five stakes winners including Argentine Group 2 winner Carlacho and Grade 3 winner Burt’s Dream.
Books and media
Footage of Secret Oath’s Kentucky Oaks win can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GfB0fK4yk8.
Fun facts
- Secret Oath broke a 32-year drought for Lukas in the Kentucky Oaks. He had last won in 1990, when Seaside Attraction pulled an upset to become his fourth Oaks winner.
- The Mitchells had originally intended to sell Secret Oath as a yearling but withdrew her from the 2020 Keeneland September sale when she failed to attract buyer interest,
Last updated: March 8, 2025