HOT SPRINGS -- D. Wayne Lukas has seen nearly every imaginable thoroughbred performance, about all anyone would expect from an active 86-year-old Hall of Fame trainer.
Among them was the most recent start for Secret Oath, the 2-1 morning-line second-choice today in Oaklawn Racing Casino Resort's $200,000 Martha Washington Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Six fillies will make their first 3-year-old starts in the Martha Washington, the fourth of 11 races, and the first of three scheduled stakes at Oaklawn today. The expected post time for the Martha Washington is 1:32 p.m.
Secret Oath, a daughter of Arrogate and maternal granddaughter of Quiet American, improved her two-year-old record to 4 2-0-1 with her 81/4-length win in a 1-mile allowance start at Oaklawn on Dec. 31. She ran the mile in 1:37.38.
Lukas said he saw perfection.
"Her last race was picture textbook perfect," Lukas said. "If we drew it up on paper and had all the other horses cooperate, that's what we would've done. That was just perfect for her to stay on the rail, angle out, and then open up 5 or 6 or 7 [lengths], whatever it was."
Secret Oath drew away by 73/4 lengths in the stretch.
"That was textbook," Lukas said. "If we repeat that one, we'll be just fine."
The short Martha Washington field is deep in equine and human talent. The 9-5 morning-line favorite, Optionality, is trained by hall of famer Steve Asmussen, who has trained more winners than anyone since records were first kept. The 5-2 third-choice Como Square comes from the barn of Brad Cox, the 2020 Eclipse Award winner for outstanding trainer and a finalist for the same prize for 2021 with Asmussen and four-time winner Chad Brown.
Asmussen also trains Martha Washington entrant Princess Pauline, a daughter of Curlin owned by Stonestreet Stables.
"It is absolutely a salty-looking race," said trainer Ingrid Mason, who trains Muddy Waters Stables' Hypersport, an 8-1 fourth-choice, with Princess Pauline.
Hypersport, a daughter of Blame, led the field through the opening half-mile in Secret Oath's most recent win. Mason changed riders from Francisco Arrieta to Tiago Pereira for the Martha Washington.
"I would really like to see my filly go at a little slower pace," Mason said. "I want to see if she has a little more energy for the finish."
Lukas said Secret Oath's talent was clear from the start.
"We liked her from the get-go," Lukas said. "She's a big rangy filly that just floats over the ground. Her movement and her efficiency over the racetrack was the first thing that impressed us. Before we even worked her, we thought she was really, really a good mover. I said, 'If she has any natural speed at all, this is a racehorse.' She is so efficient."
He laughed as he said he hopes for a repeat performance from Secret Oath, her jockey Luis Contreras, and the rest of the field.
"It's a new field, a new surface, a new time, a new distance, but if the other five our six in there will cooperate, we'll be just fine," Lukas said.