BALTIMORE — D. Wayne Lukas sat atop his pony just following 6 a.m. and stared at Solution Oath although she bought a bathtub subsequent her very first trip to the monitor at Pimlico Race System.
“The total time she was out there she never put her ears down — they were being generally up,” he reported. “She may well be the most inform one particular I’ve ever had.”
Lukas thinks she could be a person of the finest fillies he has at any time experienced. That perception and her successful the Kentucky Oaks in extraordinary trend the working day just before the Kentucky Derby encouraged him to enter Mystery Oath in the Preakness Stakes, where by she could give the 86-12 months-old Hall of Fame coach a report-tying seventh victory in the next jewel of the Triple Crown.
“She provides you cause each working day to sense very good,” Lukas claimed from his usual location in the corner of the stakes barn at Pimlico, where by he retains courtroom every morning as horse racing’s elder statesman. “The very best is nevertheless in front of her.”
The finest horse in the Derby is not in the way, just after the proprietor of Rich Strike determined not to operate him in the Preakness soon after the 80-1 upset at Churchill Downs. To grow to be the seventh filly to gain the Preakness, Key Oath will have to conquer favourite and Derby runner-up Epicenter, which would put her in the corporation of the likes of 2009 champion Rachel Alexandra and Swiss Skydiver, who beat Authentic in this race in 2020.
Lukas is familiar with all about great female horses, obtaining qualified 15 who gained the Eclipse Award for the best filly of the calendar year. Profitable Colors in 1988 grew to become a person of just a few fillies to gain the Kentucky Derby, and Magic formula Oath two weeks in the past gave him a fifth victory in the Oaks.
She could have operate in the Black-Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday, but Lukas was willing to roll the dice on Solution Oath staying far better than the colts this time immediately after ending 3rd in the Arkansas Derby in April.
“She’ll catch them. No matter whether she will operate by them, we’ll uncover out,” reported Lukas, who cited Mystery Oath’s switch of foot as her most significant asset. “She’s obtained that acceleration. She runs together with them. And when they request her to shift, she’s received a devastating kick. She breaks their hearts.”“Filly, colt, federal government mule — I really do not treatment,” he explained. “I’m right here to get the issue.
Two time Triple Crown-successful coach and excellent close friend Bob Baffert advised Lukas that Secret Oath reminded him of Arrogate, who he considered the finest horse of his vocation. Secret Oath is the daughter of Arrogate and glides more like him than Lukas’ star fillies of many years past.
“She’s received much more to do, but she’s obtained a probability to be as great as any of them,” Lukas mentioned. “I really do not think that is out of line. We’re chatting about just one that, she will get in excess of the floor superior than any of them I’ve had. Her effectiveness: boy, she is a very mover.”
Solution Oath appeared to take to Pimlico as very well as her trainer, who considers himself lucky to have had so a great deal achievement at the observe over and above the Preakness. Organic expertise could assistance her increase to Lukas’ listing of accolades, but his training has a whole lot to do with her evolution.
“He’s a magician,” stated retired jockey Donna Brothers, now an NBC Sports activities analyst. “He’s been executing it for a variety of a long time, and he can continue on to produce those people kinds of benefits.”
He has gotten those success considering that 1980 when he gained his to start with Preakness with Codex. Immediately after Codex defeat Kentucky Derby-winning filly Legitimate Threat in that race, Lukas doesn’t see a lot poetic price in acquiring a filly in Key Oath who could get the career carried out 42 decades later.
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