No Secret to the Lady’s Success
Despite winning eight consecutive stakes races during her sophomore year in 1985, Lady’s Secret came up short in that year’s Eclipse Award voting for Champion 3-Year-Old Filly, an award that went to Mom’s Command.
When 1986 came around, however, there was no doubt who the best horse in North America was, regardless of gender. Lady’s Secret delivered a historic campaign as a 4-year-old that year, winning 10 graded stakes - including a shared record eight Grade 1s - en route to the Eclipse Awards for Champion Older Mare and Horse of the Year. The striking gray daughter of Secretariat, known affectionately as “The Iron Lady,” left no room for debate.
Among Lady’s Secret’s memorable wins in 1986 was a tour de force performance against males in the 59th edition of the Grade 1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga Race Course.
With Hall of Famer Pat Day in the irons, the D. Wayne Lukas-trained Oklahoma-bred cruised to a 4 1/2-length victory over Ends Well at the Spa to become the fifth filly or mare to win the prestigious race, joining Black Maria [1928], Bateau [1929], Esposa [1937], and Gallorette [1948]. Personal Ensign became the sixth female Whitney winner in 1988.
The New York Times said the crowd of 43,520 for the 1986 Whitney was “the largest turnout ever for any Saratoga card other than a Travers Stakes Day.”
Those in attendance were treated to a spectacular performance that has resonated for four decades.
“She was truly a special horse, and she was in peak form that day, that summer, and basically all year,” said Day, who piloted Lady’s Secret to the Whitney victory and won six other races aboard the Mr. and Mrs. Eugene V. Klein-owned filly. “I had supreme confidence I was on the best horse, and I rode her accordingly. I basically played the role of passenger.”
Sent off as the 13-to-10 favorite over Skip Trial, Lady’s Secret led at every pole in the Whitney, setting fast fractions of 23 1/5, 46 3/5, 1:10 4/5, and 1:36 3/5. She romped home with a final furlong of 13 1/5 and no one was cutting into her lead as she completed the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49 4/5. It was the first of five Whitney wins for Day, tied for the most in the race’s storied history with fellow Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey.
“I just pushed the button and off she went. It wasn’t complicated with her,” Day said. “She’d do anything you’d ask … and she was capable of doing it all. My plan in the Whitney was to be forward and see if anyone could get to her. It worked out beautifully.”
The thinking of many handicappers prior to the Whitney was that Lady’s Secret would have to duel for the early lead and then would be softened up and vulnerable for a closer such as Skip Trial or Ends Well. No such scenario developed. Day cued Lady’s Secret to the front from the break, and she easily outsprinted Sunny Galore to take command by 3 1/2 lengths after the opening quarter. There was minimal threat from that point onward in the race.
Ends Well, a 5-year-old son of Lyphard and winner of the Grade 2 Michigan Mile and One-Eighth in his previous start, moved into second position on the stretch turn, but Lady’s Secret was gliding with ease. No rivals were able to threaten her as she became the first filly since Hall of Famer Gallorette 38 years earlier to win the Whitney. It was the 19th win in 34 starts for Lady’s Secret, who earned $292,500 to push her career earnings to more than $1.9 million, which at the time was the fourth-highest ever by a filly.
Lady’s Secret had come a long way from her non-descript 2-year-old season in 1984, when she won the Moccasin and earned two other wins from a total of eight starts. She went on to blossom as a sophomore with a record of 10-5-0 from 17 starts and earnings of $994,349. All of her 3-year-old wins were in stakes races, including victories in five consecutive graded events: the Grade 2 Test, Grade 2 Ballerina, Grade 1 Maskette, Grade 1 Ruffian Handicap, and Grade 1 Beldame. She finished second in the 1985 Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff to stablemate Life’s Magic to conclude her season.
The Whitney was one of numerous elite performances by Lady’s Secret in 1986. The diminutive filly - she weighed only about 900 pounds - began the year with three consecutive graded stakes wins in California at Santa Anita Park: the Grade 3 El Encino, Grade 1 La Canada, and Grade 1 Santa Margarita Handicap. She then finished second in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park before being partnered with Day for the first time in the Grade 1 Shuvee Handicap that May at Belmont Park.
“I was blessed to get the mount on her at the perfect time. She was already seasoned and accomplished and still had plenty in the tank” said Day, who won seven times in 11 starts aboard Lady’s Secret. “Jorge Velasquez had been riding her, but the Shuvee came up on the same day as the Preakness that year and he had a prior commitment for that race, which opened the mount up on Lady’s Secret. I’m grateful Wayne trusted me with her. I was able to develop a really good connection with the horse. She always gave everything she had and I think I fit her well.”
After winning the Shuvee and placing in both the Grade 1 Metropolitan and Grade 1 Hempstead handicaps at Belmont, Lady’s Secret tuned up for the Whitney with a 6 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher at Monmouth Park. With her solid showings in the Met Mile versus males and Hempstead, it was not shocking Lukas decided to take aim at the Whitney with Lady’s Secret. The Hall of Fame trainer never shied away from a challenge. Lukas had considerable success with running fillies against males throughout his career, including victories by Hall of Famers Winning Colors in the 1988 Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and Serena’s Song in the 1995 Grade 1 Haskell Invitational.
Two weeks after her Whitney victory, Lady’s Secret was third in the Grade 1 Iselin Handicap at Monmouth, then second to Hall of Famer Precisionist in the Grade 1 Woodward at Belmont another two weeks later. One week after the Woodward, Lady’s Secret romped by seven lengths in the Grade 1 Maskette, running a mile in 1:33 2/5 to set a record for a filly or mare at Belmont Park. She took the Grade 1 Ruffian two weeks later by eight lengths under 129 pounds, then won the Grade 1 Beldame. Lady’s Secret closed out her Championship season with a 2 1/2-length victory over Fran’s Valentine in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita. Her eight Grade 1 wins established a record for the most in a single year since the grading of races began in 1973 [a mark equaled by Cigar in 1995]. She had truly earned her status as “The Iron Lady.”
“She was so good for such a long stretch of time,” Day said. “I can’t think of too many horses as good and as consistent for the amount of time she was. They don’t make too many horses like that.”
Returning as a 5-year-old in 1987, Lady’s Secret ran five times with a pair of allowance victories before ending her career by bolting in an allowance at Saratoga in August. The game and durable Champion was retired with a record of 25-9-3 from 45 starts and had earned $3,021,325, a record for a filly or mare at the time.
“She was the ultimate overachiever,” Lukas said in the book Thoroughbred Champions: Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century, published by BloodHorse magazine. “Early in her career, we didn’t think she had superstar potential. In fact, we weren’t even sure she would achieve stakes winner status. … But she was very, very tough, and hickory sound.”
“She was maintenance free,” Lukas added in a 2016 interview with America’s Best Racing. “All we had to do was run her and look for the next race.”
Inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1992, Lady’s Secret was ranked No. 76 in Thoroughbred Champions: Top 100 Racehorses of the 20th Century.
Following her racing career, there was great anticipation for what Lady’s Secret could accomplish as a broodmare. After failing to meet her reserves at the 1986 and 1987 Fasig-Tipton November breeding stock sales, she was sold in foal to Alydar to Fares Farm in Georgetown, Ky., for $3.8 million at the 1988 Keeneland November sale. She was resold in foal to Seattle Slew to John and Kim Glenney for $750,000 at the 1998 Keeneland November sale.
Lady’s Secret, however, was never able to replicate her on-track success as a broodmare. Ten of her 12 named foals started, but only five won, with the most notable being Good Looks, a 1992 filly by Mr. Prospector, who won three of 23 starts and went on to become the dam of Japanese listed stakes winner Kyowa Happiness [by Oath]. She died from complications of foaling a General Meeting colt while at Jack Liebau and Tom Capehart’s Valley Creek Farm in California in 2003.
“She brings back warm memories when I think about her and all that she accomplished,” said Day, who won 8,803 races and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 1991. “I was blessed to ride some amazing horses … Easy Goer, Dance Smartly, Awesome Again, Java Gold, Sky Classic, and so many others, but I’d have to put Lady’s Secret right up there with any of them - and ahead of most of them.”
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On Saturday, D.J. Stable's Kentucky homebred Nitrogen will look to emulate Lady's Secret by defeating males in the 99th running of the Grade 1 Whitney.
The Whitney will be broadcast to a national audience on FOX as part of a two-hour edition of FOX Saratoga Saturday, which will begin at 5 p.m. Eastern. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/tv-schedule/.
Brien Bouyea is the Hall of Fame and Communications Director at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. He is the author of Bare Knuckles and Saratoga Racing: The Remarkable Life of John Morrissey, co-author of The Travers: 150 Years of Saratoga’s Greatest Race, and editor in chief of The Racetracks of America: From the Colonial Days to the 21st Century.
