Horse Racing / Bill Christine : It’s the Lady’s Secret Why She Ran So Poorly

Question: How could Lady’s Secret, in her first start since being voted horse of the year in 1986, lose by 32 1/2 lengths and beat only one horse in last Saturday’s Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale, Fla.?

Answer: It’s the lady’s secret. As Jeff Lukas, assistant trainer for his father, Wayne, said after watching the gray mare run so badly: “It’s one of those days when you wish horses could talk.”

Carrying 120 pounds, her lowest impost since last August, Lady’s Secret went off at 4-5 in the Donn, and although she was hardly a cinch to begin her 5-year-old season by beating males, it was a shock that she would be so noncompetitive.

Consider:

--The Donn marked the first time in 26 races that Lady’s Secret had finished worse than third. In her last 25 starts, since a fourth-place finish in the Comely Stakes at Belmont Park in 1985, she had rung up 18 wins, 5 seconds and 2 thirds.

--Eleven lengths behind Mom’s Command in the Comely, the only other time in a 40-race career that Lady’s Secret had been distanced was when she ran fifth, beaten by 16 lengths, in the Oak Leaf at Santa Anita in October of 1984. But she was just a 2-year-old then.

Lady’s Secret was not injured in the Donn, according to reports from Florida, even though she bore out repeatedly in the race, which is sometimes a sign that a horse has physical problems. These are some of the theories being advanced for her dismal performance:

--It was the first race in 4 1/2 months for a mare that has thrived on dancing all the dances. The last time Lady’s Secret had been given a layoff was a three-month breather when she was a 2-year-old.

--As those who didn’t vote for Lady’s Secret as horse of the year like to point out, she has never beaten top male opponents. She scored her only win against males in the Whitney Handicap, which had a weak field, at Saratoga last August. But the Donn, although it included major winners Launch a Pegasus, Wise Times and Skip Trial, was won by Little Bold John, a 55-1 shot whose $500,000 bankroll had been mainly accumulated because he was able to dominate the relatively soft Maryland circuit.

--Lady’s Secret couldn’t handle Gulfstream’s deep, tiring track.

--Sonny Hine, who hoped to win the Donn with Skip Trial, also started a cheap speed horse named Little Professer, and he softened up Lady’s Secret in the first part of the race.

--Whether they’re on the track or not, mares biologically have their minds on the breeding season at this time of the year and run more consistently later, when the birds and the bees are not a factor. Lady’s Secret, however, didn’t seem to have that problem early last year when she ran some of her biggest races at Santa Anita.

--A workout at Gulfstream four days before the Donn did nothing to prepare Lady’s Secret for the race. After working brilliantly at Hollywood Park before she was flown to Florida, Lady’s Secret worked half a mile at Gulfstream in :51 2/5, four seconds slower than the fastest time that day. Lukas reportedly had cautioned the exercise rider, Ronnie McCorkle, about working her too fast and instead she worked much too slow.

Lady’s Secret still would have finished next to last after dropping back on the far turn, but her losing margin became greater when Pat Day quit riding after the race was down the drain.

Although the Apple Blossom Handicap, a race that Lady’s Secret missed winning by a neck to Love Smitten last year, is at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., April 15, she may remain in Florida to run at Gulfstream again.

Rupperto, even though he was injured as he ran fourth in the Flamingo at Hialeah, is one of at least 14 horses for which $3,000 late fees were paid, making them eligible for the Triple Crown races. The cutoff was Tuesday. The entry fee was only $600 before Jan. 15 and 398 3-year-olds were nominated for that price.

Rupperto, who closed lots of ground in the Flamingo and finished only three lengths behind the victorious Talinum, won’t make the Kentucky Derby May 2 but apparently is a possibility for the Preakness May 16 and the Belmont Stakes June 6.

Also among the $3,000 nominees are Blanco, who finished second to Barb’s Relic in only the third start of his career at Santa Anita March 8; and Big Buckie, a gelding who won a maiden race while running for a $32,000 claiming price at Santa Anita on March 5.

Big Buckie was sired by Buckaroo, whose son, Spend a Buck, won the Derby in 1985.

Horse Racing Notes Nine horses are entered in Sunday’s San Felipe field, a major prep for the Santa Anita Derby April 4. Chart the Stars will break from the inside, and next to him, in order, are Something Lucky, Bold Archon, Alysheba, Simply Majestic, War, Barb’s Relic, Temperate Sil, and Red And Blue. Temperate Sil, who will be favored, carries top weight of 122 pounds, two more than Alysheba. In today’s Sierra Madre Handicap, River Drummer is the high weight at 121 pounds. . . . Pat Rogerson of the Las Vegas Sun has made Masterful Advocate the 6-1 future-book favorite for the Kentucky Derby. Capote and Temperate Sil are next at 8-1. . . . A sampling of some current stud fees: Precisionist $50,000, Greinton $40,000, Skywalker $30,000, Flying Paster $20,000 and Dancing Brave, who stands in England, $183,480. Dancing Brave recently had a scare when he was being exercised on a road near Newmarket and was hit by a car. He suffered a small nick on a rear leg.

Smile, last year’s national sprint champion, has been retired to stud after failing to win in three starts this year. . . . The death of Harry Silbert last week reminded some people of how Bill Shoemaker’s longtime agent met a 17-year-old Shoemaker at Santa Anita in 1949. “See that kid cooling out that horse over there?” trainer George Reeves said to Silbert. “You better be his agent, because he’s going to be a good rider.” Answered Silbert, “I know, I know.” Bill Passmore, now a racing official in Maryland, can take partial credit for the start of the 37-year Shoemaker-Silbert relationship. When Passmore left California to go East, Silbert needed another jockey and picked Shoemaker.

Hollywood Park’s $4.6-million, 35-race stakes schedule includes the Gamely Handicap May 24, the Californian June 7, the Milady Handicap June 13, the Hollywood Gold Cup June 28, the Hollywood Oaks July 12, the Vanity Handicap July 19, the Swaps July 26 and the Sunset Handicap on closing day, July 27. The season will open April 22. . . . Sandy Hawley, injured in a riding spill at Oaklawn Park Feb. 13, returned to action there last weekend after being sidelined with a sore back. . . . Eight tickets worth $192,440 each were sold on the Pick Nine at Santa Anita Tuesday. One was a $2 ticket, another cost $4 and a third bettor won with a ticket that cost $12,000. . . . Snow Chief is headed for Florida to run in the Gulfstream Park Handicap March 29.