Three-year-old filly Sarah’s Secret, who recorded the first of her four
straight career-opening victories last summer at Del Mar, returns on Sunday as
the likely favorite for the San Clemente.
“She’s always been a nice filly and so far everything has worked out well,”
trainer Kathy Walsh said Friday from Los Angeles where she was overseeing
preparations for Sarah’s Secret’s ship to Del Mar on Saturday. “We gave her a
little time off after the race there last year to develop and she has done
everything that has been asked of her.”
Bred in Kentucky by Joan Hadley Thoroughbreds, Sarah’s Secret was a 1
½-length winner in her racing debut at 5 ½ furlongs on August 10, 2010 at Del
Mar. Allowance-level victories at Santa Anita last October and Hollywood Park
in May primed Sarah’s Secret for the Grade II, $150,000 Honeymoon Handicap at
Hollywood Park on June 11 which resulted in a wire-to-wire half-length score.
The daughter of Leroidesanimaux, whose owning partnership now includes Al
and Sandee Kirkwood as well as Hadley, has been on an every-other-one-a-bullet
pattern for her last five workouts, whether over the Hollywood Park
Cushion Track or Santa Anita dirt. The San Clemente will be the third straight
race on turf for Sarah’s Secret. The one-mile distance is a furlong shorter
than that of the Honeymoon.
“I don’t think that will affect her at all,” Walsh said.