Horse Racing Fantasy Community

We at HRF have made the command decision to, over the next several days, showcase for your viewing and reading pleasure, 1986 Horse of the Year Lady's Secret. To get you guys in our community a little more familiar with this amazing filly, I thought the time was appropriate to give you a short rundown on her remarkable career. This filly didn't get special treatment because of her famous papa. No, she earned every bit of what she achieved, and we at Horse Racing Fantasy love her for it!

Sired by the legendary Secretariat from the dam Great Lady M., the gray filly Lady's Secret was bred by Robert H. Spreen at [Lucas Farm in Oklahoma. Spreen sold her for $200,000 to Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Klein (former owner of the San Diego Chargers), and she was prepared for racing by Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Lady's Secret, who liked running at the front, won twenty-five of her forty-five races and had nine second-place finishes. The daughter of Secretariat dominated the fillies she raced against, but with age she gained strength enough to become competitive against the males. Lady's Secret holds a special distinction with Lucas because she was his first big winner, and put him on the map as a major trainer.

After successful campaigns at ages two and three, in 1986 Lady's Secret became a dominant force in American thoroughbred racing. She defeated the nation's best male horses four times, winning ten of her fifteen starts that season, all graded stakes races. Eight of these Stakes wins were Grade 1 events. No horse has won this many graded stakes races in one season since races became graded in 1973. Small and grey and dainty, and weighing no more than 900 pounds, she had great speed and true grit. Nicknamed "The Iron Lady," she was the first female to win the Whitney Stakes since Gallorette in 1948. She finished her amazing year by winning the Breeders' Cup Distaff with Pat Day up.

Her performance throughout the 1986 racing season earned her the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Older Female Horse plus the most prestigious honor of all, and a rarity for fillies, the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year for 1986.

Retired at age five, in 1989 Lady's Secret was sold to Fares Farm Inc. in Lexington, Kentucky to stand as a broodmare. In 1992, she was inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. She is ranked at number 76 by Blood-Horse magazine in their list of the top 100 U.S. thoroughbred champions of the 20th Century.

Lady's Secret died suddenly on March 4, 2003 at Valley Creek Farm in Valley Center, California as a result of complications from giving birth. Sadly, none of the Iron Lady's progeny were anything like their mother.

The Lady's Secret Café at Monmouth Park Racetrack in Oceanport, New Jersey and the Lady's Secret Breeders' Cup Handicap race at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California are named in her honor. Lady's Secret Drive in Del Rayo Estates, Rancho Santa Fe, California where her owner lived was also named in her memory.

Her lifetime earnings equaled $3,021,325.