Lady's Secret Dies

[Observer]

1986 Horse of the Year Lady's Secret died this morning (Tues., Mar. 4) at the age of 21, hours after having given birth to a General Meeting colt.

This is sad news .. and it makes me wonder .. at what age do they consider pensioning a mare from having to go through the stress of carrying a foal???

Lady's Secret (Thoroughbred Times) (http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/todaysnews/newsview.asp?recno=31009&subsec=6)

Lady's Secret (Blood Horse) (http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=14385)

[Tom]

She ended her racing career being abused by a greedy sob and then dies still serving some other greedy sob.
She had tons more class than any of the humans that she came in contact with.
I'll never forget that pathetic race in the slop at Saratoga-the poor thing waws all but pleading not to race anymore and it was blatantly obvious to everyone but her trainer(?)

[Kentucky Bred]

Tom, that was wonderfully and passionately well stated. You are exactly right.

The soft underbelly of this industry is horrible. Is it any different now that the farms have figured out how to get more money from their studs by shipping the good ones all the way across the globe to breed to mares in Australia? Our best stallions are breeding to nearly 100 mares here and then being shipped over there to work an additional 80+ mares and then come back here and then go back there and on and on. That is too disgusting and greedy for words and many of the vets and UK (University of Kentucky) animal experts are saying the same thing. This creates the destruction of the sport which they say they support.

But then again to those who have been an "owners" in this sport, they know how much they are respected for their "investment" in the industry. Why should we see the animals treated any better?

Kentucky Bred

[WALLENDA]

Its a shame she was never able to pass on her greatness to her offspring...the problem of soo many great race mares

[PaceAdvantage]

I was looking over her PPs today....she was a little bit before my time, so I never saw her run live. It shocked me that she was primarily a sprinter until very late in her 3yo campaign.

I also don't really get all the fury Lukas endures from her limited 5yo campaign. OK, she wins the BC Distaff at 4yo, and is voted HOY. She comes back about 4 months later, making her first start off the layoff in the DONN HANDICAP. A pretty ambitious spot. She gets her clock cleaned....

She takes another break, comes back in an Allowance race, and romps if memory serves. She then has a couple more good outings before that race at Saratoga where she bolts and is retired. What am I missing here? Where did Lukas grind her into the ground. I think she started 17 times as a 3yo, almost as much as a 4yo, and only a handful of times at 5 before being retired. If he were really looking to grind her, why did they retire her?? They could have made the excuse that her last race was run over a SLOPPY track against MALES. But they didn't....

Again, I wasn't into racing at that time, so I never got the full 'vibe' of what was going on with her and Lukas, but on paper, it seems everything was 'normal'.

What am I missing?

==PA

[Observer]

Originally posted by PaceAdvantage
What am I missing?

First of all, the uproars you've come to know surrounding Lukas .. it's pretty much always been that way when it comes to him .. some years worse than others .. oftentimes I've felt it's been unjustified, particularly if you stop and take a look around the game.

I was a young kid, barely in my teens, when Lady's Secret raced .. and I was a HUGE fan of hers .. so I loved when she ran .. and never stopped to think what the race condition was .. I was just happy to still be able to see her as a five-year-old.

Now that I'm older, I guess part of the uproar would be it's not really typical to see a Horse of the Year race in allowance conditions .. and I guess after she earned the Horse of the Year title people just felt that she had "done enough" on the racetrack, especially if not able to compete at the same level of competition.

It's funny, people in this game cry that we don't have good horses running, or that the good horses don't run enough .. yet at the same time, people try to play arm-chair trainers by declaring how this horse or that horse needs a break or should be retired. Oh, and have you ever noticed the disapproval when a claimer-turned-stakes winner lands back in the claiming ranks .. that's a no-no, too. The best recent example is Peeping Tom .. so many had written him off, and declared that he should be retired .. yet he just picked up second in the G2 General George! Good thing trainer Pat Reynolds didn’t listen to the crys.

[Tom]

Where did you see the PP's for LS...DRF.com?
I would love to look at them again. Probably have the form still in my basement, but I am afraid of spiders <G>

[cj]

Tom,

They are in the "Champions" book offered by DRF. The book has all the PPs of the great horses of the 20th century. Keeps me entertained for hours at a time.

CJ

[PaceAdvantage]

Today's form (March 6) has her death on the cover, and her PPs on page 8

[anotherdave]

When people talked about Secretariat, they'd often say he wasn't as successful as he should have been. There was a great quote to counter that ; I can't remember exactly but it was something like:

"Secretariat didn't reproduce himself because that could only be done by the gods"

Lady's Secret was pretty amazing. I remember her coming down the stretch almost as clearly as her dad.

AD

[anotherdave]

Too late to edit my previous post. I meant people saying he wasn't as successful as he should have been as a SIRE. Obviously couldn't have done any better as a racehorse!

AD

[Observer]

I think it is totally unfair for people to even expect such a thing. How long do we wait for the "next Secretariat" .. of course, the media loves to jump and pronounce unproven, still developing juveniles as the "next" .. however .. the game waited so long for him to come around the first time .. what were the chances of him reproducing a runner like himself???

His daughter Lady's Secret was nothing to shrug at .. a truly amazing female who defeated boys AND was crowned Horse of the Year, a title bestowed upon only two other females in the game .. and one being Azeri for last year's efforts through logical process of elimination.

How special would Secretariat be if there were so many running around with his talent??
:rolleyes: