Secret Oath beats out Nest, leads trainer D. Wayne Lukas to fifth Kentucky Oaks win

Grade 1 victories don’t come like they used to for trainer D. Wayne Lukas, but the 86-year-old Hall of Famer showed Friday he still has a little magic left.

The Lukas-trained Secret Oath made a sweeping move off the second turn and rolled home for a 2-length victory in the $1.25 million, Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.

A crowd of 100,188 fans at Churchill Downs saw Lukas win his fifth Kentucky Oaks and first since 1990. He tied Woody Stephens for the most Oaks victories by any trainer.

“He hasn’t forgotten how to train a horse,” owner/breeder Robert Mitchell said. “It’s just the young owners don’t think that’s the way to go.”

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Lukas won his first Oaks in 1982 with Blush With Pride and captured three more with Lucky Lucky Lucky (1984), Open Mind (1989) and Seaside Attraction (1990).

Forty years after that first victory, Lukas admits the feeling is different now.

“When we win the first one, we think it’s us and we get all puffed up and we think we’ve really done something,” Lukas said. “After you win one and you think it a little while, the real satisfaction is when you can put these (owners) that work with these horses and raise them in that position. That’s always been our m.o.”

Luis Saez rode Secret Oath for the first time and covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.44. Nest, the 2-1 favorite, finished second and long shot Desert Dawn was third. Secret Oath paid $10.80 on a $2 win bet. 

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With Echo Zulu trailing right behind, long shot Yuugiri set a quick pace at 22.45 seconds for the quarter-mile, 46.51 seconds for the half-mile and 1:11.44 for three-quarters.

Saez and Secret Oath went five-wide at the three-eighths pole, took the lead out of the stretch and pulled away.

“She breaks their heart when she goes by them,” Lukas said. “I just told my wife, ‘Here we go.’ She has a beautiful stride.”

Luis Contreras had ridden Secret Oath four straight times at Oaklawn, but Lukas chose to make the switch to Saez for the Oaks.

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Saez was more than happy to hear from his agent, Kiaran McLaughlin, he would get the chance.

“When (McLaughlin) told me one day that I need to work her, I drove here from Keeneland and she blew my mind,” Saez said. “I’ve ridden a lot of good fillies but none in my life like this one.”

Irad Ortiz Jr., jockey on runner-up Nest, said he was pleased with his filly’s effort.

“She did everything right and ended up pretty well,” Ortiz said. “She just got beat and was trying hard late.”

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Added Nest trainer Todd Pletcher, a former assistant of Lukas: “I’m really happy for Wayne. If I couldn’t win this race, I was rooting for him.”  

A daughter of Arrogate, Secret Oath improved to 5-0-2 in eight career starts. A homebred for the Briland Farm in Lexington owned by Robert and Stacy Mitchell, Secret Oath earned $705,250 to boost her career bankroll to $1,295,417.

Secret Oath won three straight races at Oaklawn Park over the winter and then faced the boys in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on April 2, finishing third behind Kentucky Derby contenders Cyberknife and Barber Road.

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While there was speculation Secret Oath might try the Kentucky Derby after competing in the Arkansas Derby, Robert Mitchell said that never was a serious consideration.

He also has plenty of interested buyers in recent months.

“A wealthy man would have sold her,” he said. “I’m used to not having any money, so I didn’t sell her.”

Lukas said the Preakness on May 21 at Pimlico is a possibility for Secret Oath, as is the Black-Eyed Susan the day before.

His list of successful fillies is long and illustrious — Winning Colors, Lady’s Secret, Serena’s Song — and he expects to Secret Oath to have a similar career.

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“You fall in love with the one you took to the dance last time,” Lukas said. “So when this one comes along, she’s the most special one in the barn right now. There is no comparison. She’s No. 1. If she stays healthy, she’ll go on to do everything some of these other good ones we had did.”

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @KentuckyDerbyCJ.