Briland Farm's Secret Oath (Arrogate), preparing to take on the boys in the Apr. 2 GI Arkansas Derby, worked a bullet five furlongs in :59.40 (1/34) Thursday at Oaklawn Park. Clockers caught Secret Oath covering her first eighth of a mile in :12, a quarter-mile in :23.80 and three furlongs in :36 before galloping out six furlongs in 1:12.40.
“The filly, that's a running machine, man,” said jockey Geovanni Franco, who was aboard for the work. “She was nice. That's a great experience for me. I was the work rider for [D. Wayne] Lukas and I'll do it again if he needs me. She felt good. That's a good feeling, man.”
Franco was deputizing for Secret Oath's regular rider Luis Contreras, who was out of town.
“Luis went home for a couple of days to be with his family and I know he'll be sick that I worked her without him,” Lukas said. “But having said that, the day came up and I thought he was going to be back, but he doesn't get in until 10 o'clock this morning. Geovanni did a beautiful job. He did a good job. He filled in nicely. I told Franco, I said, 'Luis owes you one now.'”
The five-furlong drill marked the second work for Secret Oath since her 7 1/2-length victory in the Feb. 26 GIII Honeybee S.
“We let her finish a little bit,” Lukas said. “I think she went the last quarter in :23 and change, so you know we saw her skip through there. But she did it the right way. It was a really solid work. These are ways of measuring where you're at and it's a measuring stick, these works. We're not concerned at this point on conditioning. We're trying to find out how sharp we've got her and everything showed up that way. So, now we just have to keep her happy.”
Franco was also aboard Call Me Jamal (Malibu Moon), who worked five furlongs in 1:00.00 (7/34) Thursday and is under consideration for the Arkansas Derby.
“I think he keeps improving and today I felt like he worked good,” said Franco, aboard for both of the gelding's victories at the meeting. “Hopefully, he keeps improving and keeps on getting his heart bigger.”
Trained by Mike Puhich, Call Me Jamal was a maiden winner over the Oaklawn oval last December and, after finishing eighth in the Jan. 29 GIII Southwest S., won a 1 1/16-mile optional claimer Feb. 26.
Moments after the work, Puhich said that Call Me Jamal remains under consideration for the Arkansas Derby and the Apr. 9 GI Toyota Blue Grass S. at Keeneland.
“I'm leaving the door open both ways, but I'm probably leaning more towards here,” Puhich said. “The Blue Grass is going to come up just as tough. I think Lukas's filly is the best 3-year-old I've seen run all year, in my opinion, from a fan's standpoint.”
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