First Classic winner for Arrogate as Briland Farm homebred Secret Oath scores

As Briland Farm's homebred Secret Oath, a daughter of Juddmonte's late sire Arrogate, began her lethal late kick in the $1.25 million Longines Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, the grandstand began to roar.

Even connections of the other competitors started yelling: "Look at Lukas!" "There comes Lukas!" and a collective cheer arose from both the horsemen on the track and the crowd in the stands as the gritty chestnut filly streaked across the finish line.

For those associated with the remaining 13 fillies that finished behind Secret Oath, sentiments of disappointment were outweighed by the simple notion that there was no shame in losing to one of the most revered figures on the racetrack in trainer D Wayne Lukas and his budding superstar.

A chestnut daughter of the son of Unbridled's Song, Secret Oath was handing her sire a first winner at the top level from his first crop, having also won the Honeybee Stakes and Martha Washington Stakes, as well as finishing third in the Arkansas Derby last month.

Arrogate was a rare yearling purchase by Juddmonte when selling to the late Prince Khalid Abdullah's operation for $560,000 from breeder Clearsky Farms at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale in 2014.

He went on to win nearly £14 million in prize-money with stylish wins in the Breeders' Cup Classic, Dubai World Cup, Pegasus World Cup and Travers Stakes before retiring to Juddmonte's farm in Kentucky for the 2018 breeding season.

He covered a top quality book of 145 mares at a fee of $75,000 in his first year, 88 per cent of whom were stakes performers or producers and a quarter of his book were Grade 1 winners or producers. Arrogate tragically died in June 2020 after suffering from an undetermined illness.

Secret Oath is the first Kentucky Oaks winner for owner-breeders Rob and Stacy Mitchell of Briland Farm. The Mitchells, whose programme has been producing thoroughbreds for the last two decades on their 90-acre farm outside of Lexington, are a throwback to the classic horse breeders of yesteryear.

"Look at that - I have 69 messages on my phone, I didn't think I had this many friends," Rob Mitchell joked. "We're just small country people."

The product of a carefully selected mating, Secret Oath best exemplifies what Rob Mitchell refers to as "reverse sex cross breeding." Mitchell's mare, the Grade 1-placed, multiple stakes winner Absinthe Minded, was bred to Arrogate because he has two crosses of stallion Intentionally’s best son, In Reality, while Absinthe Minded, a daughter of Quiet American, supplies to him a cross of Intentionally’s best daughter, Ta Wee.

"These are all classic Tartan Farm bloodlines," said Mitchell. "So that’s a sex-balanced mating through prominent sons and daughters of Intentionally. In Reality is a son of Intentionally out of a Rough'n Tumble mare while Great Above is by a son of Rough'n Tumble out of a daughter of Intentionally. Reverse sex cross. It doesn't always work, but it's something I use a lot in breeding horses."

Managing the farm is a full-time job for Rob and his wife, Stacy, who is always the first one in a mare's stall to help with foaling. It never crossed the couple's mind that the fruit of their efforts would blossom into a filly capable of winning at the highest echelons of the sport.

"To be here today, we've worked so hard," said Mitchell. "My wife has worked so hard. We're on the farm. We live on the farm. We fix the fence, mow the fields.

"Every foal that we have ever raced was born on our farm. I have nothing against the syndicates. I think the syndicates are good for horse racing, but we have never bought a racehorse, ever. Every horse we've raced was born on our farm. We bought some broodmares, raised their fillies, and their fillies. Other people have other ways [of doing it]. That's fine. But if we race a horse, we foaled it and we delivered the foal itself."

The 15-year-old Absinthe Minded has an unnamed two-year-old filly by Medaglia d'Oro and was covered by Liam's Map this year.

As fate would have it, her daughter had been entered in the 2020 Keeneland September Sale as a yearling, but was withdrawn due to a lack of interest from buyers.

Despite captivating the public's imagination back with a bold bid against the males in the Arkansas Derby, Secret Oath, third that day after a wide trip and an explosive ground-eating move left her leg weary in the final sixteenth, virtually flew under the radar in the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Oaks.

Lukas never wavered in his faith in the filly, and could only chuckle when he watched Churchill oddsmaker Mike Battaglia give her odds of 6-1 on the morning line behind Central Bank Ashland Stakes heroine Nest, undefeated two-year-old champion filly Echo Zulu and two-time Graded winner Kathleen O.

Coasting beneath the media spotlight suited Lukas just fine, and Secret Oath bounced back from her Arkansas Derby performance with two serious works over the Churchill surface. She was fleshed out beautifully, dapples aglow, as she pranced with renewed energy beside her handler in the paddock before the race.

The final result of the Oaks was a surprise only to those who did not know her.

On a sealed track, slick from the sheets of rain that hailed upon Louisville earlier in the afternoon, Secret Oath lined up as the co-third choice, with Nest closing the windows as the 2-1 favourite. Fantasy Stakes winner Yuugiri rocketed to the lead, quickly pursued by Echo Zulu as the field leapt from the gate. Luis Saez, up for the first time and replacing regular rider Luis Contreras, nursed the filly along in mid-pack three-wide down the backstretch, clear from the fray of contenders vying for position in the first flight.

"I thought the race unfolded pretty much like what we expected," said Lukas. "Being in the one hole, we didn't have a lot of options. But down the backside, I told Luis [Saez] not to get too creative on the turn and make his move if he was going to get in position on the backside."

Yuugiri sped through opening fractions of :22.45 and :46.51 before Echo Zulu ranged up beside her to challenge into the run for the final turn. As the field wheeled into the bend after three-quarters clocked in 1:11.44, Saez pressed the "go" button on the advancing Secret Oath.

Traveling widest of all into the turn, the filly launched her trademark closing kick, roaring past Echo Zulu and lengthening her stride to the wire. Nest, angled into the sixth path down the lane under Irad Ortiz Jr, closed gallantly but to no avail, finishing two lengths behind the victorious Secret Oath.

"A few weeks ago my agent [former Lukas assistant and trainer Kiaran McLaughlin] told me we were likely going to ride Secret Oath," said Saez. "Then, when he told me one day that I need to work her, I drove here from Keeneland and she blew my mind. I've ridden a lot of good fillies, but none in my life like this one. I'm so glad to be here and blessed to win my first Kentucky Oaks."

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