Y – #7 – Lady’s Secret – horseracing20thcentury99.com

Top Ten Fillies & Mares Twentieth Century

#7

Lady's Secret

(1944 - 1948)

Lady’s Secret won 25 of 45 career starts, among them the 1986 Whitney Handicap against older horses. Her greatest victory was the 1986 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

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PEDIGREE

Gr Filly

OWNER

Mr. & Mrs. Eugene Klein

TRAINER

D. Wayne Likas

BREEDER

Robert H. Spreen

Some Facts

Lady’s Secret was born on April 8, 1982. She was bred by Robert Spreen at Lucas Farm in Oklahoma and was sold to Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Klein for $200,000. D. Wayne Lukas assumed her training duties and would remain with her throughout her career.
Lady’s Secret was a tenacious competitor who usually did her best on the front end. Her small size defied her willingness to battle against the strongest competition as she stood just 15.1 hands tall and weighed 900 pounds.
She was sired by Secretariat, who, though often considered a disappointment as a sire, nevertheless, is a Chef de Race in two categories, Intermediate and Classic. She is possibly his best progeny, along with Tinner’s Way, a two-time winner of the Pacific Classic, Risen Star, which won the 1988 Preakness and Belmont Stakes while finishing third in the Kentucky Derby, and Terlingua, a seven-time stakes winner whose greatest claim to fame was that she was the dam of the influential sire, Storm Cat.
Lady’s Secret’s dam was Great Lay M., a daughter of Icecapade, who was a half-brother to the great Ruffian. Great Lady M. was an excellent sprinter, winning seven stakes in her career, primarily on the California circuit. Her most important wins were the 1979 La Brea Handicap, her seven-furlong time in 1:22 3/5, and the 1980 A Gleam Handicap, a six-furlong sprint she won in 1:08 2/5.
Lady’s Secret raced extensively on both coasts, with 21 of her starts on the New York circuit and 15 in California. Surprisingly, she ran at Gulfstream Park just once, in the 1987 Donn Handicap, in which she finished sixth to Little Bold John as the 4-5 favorite. She never raced at Churchill Downs, Keeneland, Arlington Park, Hawthorn, or the Fair Grounds.
Lady’s Secret won 25 of her 45 career starts. Her longest winning streak was eight, all stakes: the Bowl of Flowers, Regret, Rose, Test, Ballerina, Maskette, Ruffian, and the Beldame. The streak ended when she finished second in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff to stablemate Life’s Magic. The loss possibly cost her the Horse of the Year title, which went to Spend A Buck. The following year, she was awarded the title when she won seven grade-one races. They included the La Canada, La Margarita, Shuvee, Whitney (against colts), Maskette, Ruffian, and the Beldame. Her final grade one win and the one that cinched the Horse of the Year title was the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
The highest weight Lady’s Secret ever carried was 129 pounds in the 1988 Ruffian Handicap. She won the race by eight lengths and gave second-place finisher Steal A Kiss 20 pounds. Her time was 1:46 4/5, a stakes record for the fifteen times it was run at nine-furlongs.
Lady’s Secret faced males seven times in her career with one win, the 1986 Whitney Stakes, which she won by four and a half lengths over Ends Well. She retired as the all-time leading money-winning filly or mare with earnings of $3,021,425.
Lady’s Secret had twelve foals, ten of which started and five which were winners. None did particularly well on the racetrack, though Good Looks (by Mr. Prospector) did earn just over $500,000. She died from foaling complications on March 4, 2003, at Valley Creek Farm in Valley, California. She Was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1992.