Trainers search for hope once they eyeball younger horses. Coach D. Wayne Lukas didn’t see a lot motive for optimism when he first laid his eyes on Girl’s Secret.
She lacked dimension and by no means would weigh a lot. She gave the impression to be something however strong.
“I used to be actually involved that she was by no means going to quantity to something,” Lukas recalled of the daughter of Secretariat who was foaled in 1982 at a farm he then owned in Oklahoma.
Then once more, appears might be deceiving. Within the case of Girl’s Secret, they have been extremely deceiving.
After being bought by Eugene Klein, then proprietor of the San Diego Chargers, and coming into Lukas’ barn, she stitched collectively monstrous seasons in 1985 and 1986. She was a decided front-runner, capable of set crisp fractions one furlong after one other with out exhibiting any indicators of weakening or yielding to late-charging opponents.
“She was good from the get-go,” Lukas mentioned.
Regardless of appearances, she proved to be so gritty and durable that she got here to be celebrated because the “Iron Girl.” In 45 begins, she produced 25 victories, 9 runner-up finishes, and three third-place showings. She was the main feminine by purse earnings with $3,021,325 on the time of her retirement.
“She simply overachieved day after day, and also you by no means bought to the underside of her,” Lukas mentioned.
Girl’s Secret pointed to the success that was to return when she received the Moccasin Stakes at age 2. She swept the Take a look at Stakes, Ballerina Handicap, and Monmouth Park’s Remorse Handicap in 1985, which resulted in a runner-up end to stablemate Life’s Magic in that 12 months’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff, a testomony to the depth in Lukas’ barn at the moment. She took the Ruffian Handicap, Beldame Stakes, and Maskette Handicap in each 1985 and 1986. She gave every thing she had each time in these two memorable years.
“She was upkeep free,” Lukas mentioned. “All we needed to do was run her and search for the following race.”
Her 1986 marketing campaign was one to savor, culminating within the Eclipse Award as champion older feminine and, helped by Lukas’ intelligent dealing with, Horse of the Yr. He put her to an enormous check by having her oppose males within the Whitney Handicap at Saratoga Race Course. She responded by turning into the primary feminine to win that prestigious race since Gallorette in 1948. She by no means failed to complete no less than third in three different Grade 1 contests in opposition to males within the Met Mile, Philip H. Iselin Handicap, and Woodward Stakes.
Lukas felt a daring stroke could be required if Girl’s Secret was to be deemed worthy of Horse of the Yr.
“We at all times calculated what our probabilities can be and tried to be reasonable about it,” he mentioned of getting her step exterior her division. “You don’t try this frivolously.”
Curiously, with Horse of the Yr honors probably at stake, Lukas determined in opposition to operating Girl’s Secret within the 1986 Breeders’ Cup Basic. His gambit paid off. She wired the sphere within the Distaff at Santa Anita Park, then Lukas watched as front-running Skywalker pulled a wanted upset in opposition to Turkoman, a Horse of the Yr contender, within the Basic.
All that remained was for Lukas to state his case, which has by no means been an issue for him.
“Whether it is Horse of the Yr, not of the second, then it’s important to look from January to January,” he mentioned on the time.
Girl’s Secret was retired the next season. She achieved racing immortality when she was inducted into the Racing Corridor of Fame in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. in 1992.
She by no means loved success as a broodmare. Some issues should not meant to be. It appears becoming that there ought to be just one “Iron Girl.”
Notice: This story was initially printed in July 2016 and has been up to date.
Enjoyable Information
- Ranked 76th in BloodHorse journal’s itemizing of prime 100 Thoroughbred racehorses within the twentieth century.
- Put up for public sale 3 times at finish of racing profession after failing to fulfill excessive reserve on first two events.
- Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., entertains prospects at Girl’s Secret Café.
- Avenue the place proprietor Eugene Klein lived was renamed Girl’s Secret Drive.
- Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif., established a race in her honor in 1993. The race subsequently was renamed the Zenyatta Stakes.
