Madame Secretary Race Recap

Madame Secretary was fifth today at Del Mar. She broke well, and took up a stalking spot in fourth early. There seemed to be some pace signed on in this one, but longshot #9 Going Deep was left alone on the front end by the rider of the other main speed—#3 Ribbons—and they ended up crawling through pretty slow splits. Madame Secretary continued to try all the way down to the wire, but the leaders just had too much left in the tank and she couldn’t quite quicken like she needed to. Going Deep was able to pull off the 41-1 upset.

Jockey Juan Hernandez acknowledged that the pace never materialized like anyone was expecting, but he seemed fairly encouraged by your filly’s performance given it was her first try routing on the grass. He also noted that she wasn’t beaten much (only 1 1/2 lengths) for the win.

We’d probably still consider races for her on either surface depending on what’s available, but it was positive to see her handle the turf well enough this afternoon.

Madame Secretary Workout Report

Madame Secretary was back on the tab this morning, covering a solo five furlongs in 1:02 flat under Jose Contreras. Unfortunately, her work was disappointing again. We caught up afterwards with trainer Richard Mandella, who reported, “it’s a bit of a head scratcher.”

“She has been sound and there are no changes physically, but in this case it appears to be more mental than anything,” said Richard.

Upon further discussion, we have opted to bypass the aforementioned race next week and Richard believes it’s best to take a step back and freshen her up for Del Mar this summer. The plan as of now is to keep her in the barn, but that could change. We will let Richard and his team continue to monitor Madame Secretary out of this work and finalize a plan this coming week.

Madame Secretary Workout Report

Madame Secretary breezed five furlongs in 1:00.80 this morning at Santa Anita Park. Your daughter of Constitution worked under Kazushi Kimura while outside of her speedy, stakes-placed stablemate Cayucos. The duo finished up well with Madame Secretary getting the best of her mate by a slight margin, but she was under some mild urging.

Madame Secretary will be nominated to the G2 Santa Anita Oaks. This is not a confirmed race target, but we will see how she continues to train over the next two weeks before finalizing a decision.

Madame Secretary Race Recap

Madame Secretary ran a much improved second this afternoon at Santa Anita Park. Your daughter of Constitution stumbled at the start and as you will hear from jockey Juan Hernandez in the video above, he felt she broke so fast the ground came out from under her. She recovered quickly and was able to settle in second behind the eventual winner and post-time favorite, Just as Fancy. She stayed on in the stretch while green throughout, drifting in and out a bit but this was definitely an encouraging effort.

Given her debut and not getting much out of it from either a fitness or education standpoint, we have to treat this effort as her debut. It was a positive sign that she handled both the two-turn distance and the dirt.

We’ll check in with the Mandella barn in the morning to see how she exited the race and follow up with an update.

Madame Secretary Workout Report

Madame Secretary breezed a half mile in :49.80 while in company with stablemate Malibu Cove ‘22. Your daughter of Constitution proved to be much the best in this breeze, doing it all on her own and galloping out nicely.

Trainer Richard Mandella was happy with the work reporting, “They started off slow by intention but she (Madame Secretary) finished up nicely.”

Madame Secretary Workout Report

Madame Secretary breezed a quarter-mile this morning at Oak Ridge Farm. This is your daughter of Constitution’s third week of speed work and she has been a farm favorite. Previously, her breezes have been in company but she has become very competitive (a positive sign) so this week she went solo to prevent her from going too fast this early. Farm trainer Dave Scanlon and assistant Junior couldn’t have more positive things to say about her overall and her progression over the last month. She has a beautiful way of moving and has developed into a quality-looking filly. Pending she bounces out of this work in good order, Dave feels she is ready to move on to trainer Richard Mandella and we’ll begin working on those arrangements.