Fappiano Line Runs Strong in Secret Oath's Family Tree

When Justin Phillip prevailed in the 2013 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, it marked the first victory at the highest level for a horse with a double cross of Fappiano. Since then, the pattern has proliferated to a remarkable degree, to the point where less that nine years after Justin Phillip's victory, there have been more than 230 black-type scorers with at least one cross of Fappiano though different individuals within five generations on either side of the pedigree. The latest standout with that pattern as far the United States is concerned is Briland Farm's homebred Secret Oath, who confirmed her position at the top of the classic filly division with a 7 1/2-length demolition of her opponents in the Feb. 26 Honeybee Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park. This was the third straight victory, and fourth lifetime win in six starts for the chestnut. She'd broken her maiden at Churchill Downs on her second outing, then after a fifth in the Golden Rod Stakes (G2), took a Dec. 31 Oaklawn allowance by 8 1/4 lengths, and the Martha Washington Stakes at the same venue by 7 1/4 lengths. While she appears to stand head and shoulders above the rest of the classic fillies, Secret Oath may next step out of her division to tackle colts in the Arkansas Derby (G1), and it's worth noting that her trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, did win that race with the filly Althea, back in 1984, as well as taking the Kentucky Derby (G1) with the distaffer Winning Colors. If Secret Oath does develop into a superstar with Fappiano inbreeding, it would be appropriate as she's from the first crop of the late Arrogate, surely the most outstanding performer to stem from the Fappiano male line. Although Arrogate's form tailed off in the second half of his 4-year-old season, there was a spell from the summer of his 3-year-old season until the end the following winter where he performed at a level which suggested he would have been a match for anything we've seen running a route on dirt. The sequence started with a 13 1/2-length, track record-breaking victory in the Travers Stakes (G1), those behind including Gun Runner, Gift Box, Creator, Exaggerator, and Laoban. Put away until the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), Arrogate defeated another great horse, California Chrome, by a half-length with the third horse, Keen Ice, 10 3/4 lengths in arrears. Arrogate began his 4-year-old season in the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1), where he scored geared down by 4 3/4 lengths in a new track record. Then came the Dubai World Cup (G1). Brought to a standstill a few yards out of the stalls, Arrogate was still 10 lengths adrift of a loose on the lead Gun Runner—who was crowned that season's Horse of the Year—with a mile to run, yet made up the ground to such good effect that he had caught Gun Runner with more than a furlong to run, going on to score in hand by 2 1/4 lengths in a time that narrowly missed California Chrome's track record. Named World's Best Racehorse for both 2016 and 2017, Arrogate retired to stand at Juddmonte Farm near Lexington at a fee of $75,000, but tragically died at the age of 7 due to a neurological illness after covering just three books of mares. Secret Oath is from the first of those crops, which has also produced stakes winner Alittleloveandluck and stakes-placed Caragate. Secret Oath's dam Absinthe Minded preceded her daughter in showing a predilection for Oaklawn Park, winning two renewals of the Bayakoa Stakes and the Pippin Stakes, and finishing second once and third once in the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at that venue. Absinthe Minded is the only black-type horse under her dam, Rockford Peach, who ground out over $250,000 in earnings with nine wins in 73 starts, the majority of those in claiming events. There is also just one black-type horse under the Secret Oath's third dam, Strawberry Skyline—that being El Ordenador, champion older horse in Puerto Rico—and the only stakes winner under the fourth dam, Drylook, is restricted New York-bred black-type scorer Wimborne Sky. The fifth dam, Pamela Sue, did produce Addemup, who took the Little Silver Handicap, a race that would then have been a grade three equivalent event, but one has to dig further back to find performers of real consequence. As mentioned in the introduction to this article, Secret Oath is inbred to Fappiano, here that horse appearing 4x3 through Unbridled—sire of Arrogate's sire, Unbridled's Son—and through Quiet America, sire of the dam of Secret Oath. As so often happens with Fappiano duplications, many of which are found through individuals bred by the intertwined Tartan and Genter operations, there are further commonalities. Unbridled's second dam is Charedi, who is by In Reality out of Magic, a half sister to Fappiano's broodmare sire, Dr. Fager (both out of Aspidistra), where Quiet American is inbred 3x2 to Dr. Fager and 4x3 to Fappiano's dam, Cequillo, and his own dam is three-quarters sister to the dam of Fappiano. As if to underline the point that there seems to be no such thing as too much inbreeding with these strains, Absinthe Minded's dam is by Great Above, a grandson of Dr. Fager's sire Rough'n Tumble, out of champion Ta Wee, who is by Intentionally (sire of In Reality) out of Aspidistra. All told this gives Fappiano 3x5; his dam Cequillo 5x6x7; Dr. Fager 4x5x6; his sire, Rough'n Tumble 8x8x5x5x6x7x7; his dam Aspidistra 5x5x6x7x7; In Reality 6x6; and his sire Intentionally 5x7x7. Given how quiet the family had been for multiple generations, there is little doubt that this accumulation is behind its recent upgrading.