Accomplished jetsetter who was denied at the highest level

It is not often a horse wins a Classic trial by ten lengths, but when Secret Gesture did just that in the 2013 Lingfield Oaks Trial, it came as little surprise to her trainer Ralph Beckett.

Although the extent of her superiority may have been more pronounced than Beckett envisaged, he was already convinced he had a top-class filly on his hands. He had seen Secret Gesture work with rare panache at home on several occasions.

That performance led to the Galileo filly dominating advance betting on the Oaks, although she was usurped as favourite on the day by the well-backed Ballydoyle runner, Moth. Part of the reason was Secret Gesture’s unenviable berth in stall one, hard against the inside rail. She would have to move forward or drop right out to avoid running into traffic.

Jockey Jim Crowley, who elected to track the pace, quickly became a hostage to it as Miss You Too careered through early fractions that were unsustainable. And while Secret Gesture hit the front two furlongs out she was always vulnerable to a late closer. Her stablemate Talent, sent off at 20-1, duly arrived with a wet sail before galloping out to a 3¾-length victory.

Beckett was obviously delighted to have won a Classic, although it was clear in the aftermath that he felt for Secret Gesture. Asked what the future held for her, Beckett replied that he had no doubt she would win a Group 1.

“I remember that very clearly,” the trainer says. “Talent couldn’t live with Secret Gesture at home. Yes, the draw wasn’t great for Secret Gesture at Epsom, but you have to say she would never have beaten Talent that day. And as for Secret Gesture winning a Group 1 race . . . well, I was wrong.”

Technically, perhaps. And officially, too, since the record shows she never did win in the championship cauldron. Yet that is to overlook one of the most controversial disqualifications endured by connections of a British-trained horse abroad.

Secret Gesture
Age Foaled 2010
Sire-dam (damsire) Galileo-Shastye (Danehill)
Owner Qatar Racing Ltd and Newsells Park Stud
Trainer Ralph Beckett
Runs 16
Wins 4
Places 8
Most famous near-miss Disqualified after winning the 2015 Grade 1 Beverly D Stakes

It was a winning challenge Jamie Spencer conjured from Secret Gesture as the filly hit the front inside the final furlong of the 2015 Grade 1 Beverly D Stakes at Arlington Park, in Chicago. By now a five-year-old, the mare quickly established clear water before she lugged to her right.

Behind her, Irad Ortiz aboard Stephanie’s Kitten reacted to Secret Gesture’s less than straight passage. He abruptly switched his mount left but his manoeuvre was sufficient to prevent his mount from holding second place from the late-closing Watsdachances.

The incident would have barely raised an eyebrow in Britain, yet by US rules, the stewards were obliged to inquire. And when they reached their conclusion, their collective hands were tied by rules that heavily penalise horses who chart an errant passage up the home straight.

Secret Gesture was thrown out and the race awarded to the runner-up, whose passage had been uninterrupted. The promoted winner, Watsdachances, was demonstrably third best on the day.

“It was frustrating,” Beckett recalls. “Even the Arlington chief steward said Ortiz was grandstanding. But unfortunately, Jamie [Spencer] wasn’t looking where he was going. He had his head down and didn’t realise the filly was drifting until after she’d done it. By then it was too late.”

The sense of injustice was such that connections launched an appeal, which was dismissed. “We had to take it on the chin,” says David Redvers, racing manager to Sheikh Fahad Al Thani’s Qatar Racing Ltd. “Our filly passed the post first and we felt she was the best horse on the day, but that’s racing.”

Secret Gesture was retired after one further outing when she failed to feature in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf. That Group 1 victory proved elusive to the end.

“That’s the story for so many horses,” Redvers says, “but I think everyone recognises she was a genuine Group 1 filly who we have high expectations of as a broodmare. She is currently in foal to War Front, which is exciting for us.”

The Arlington episode aside, Secret Gesture came closest to realising her Group 1 quest in the 2013 Preis Der Diana (German Oaks) at Dusseldorf. The race came ten weeks after she had finished runner-up at Epsom; she again filled the same berth when she was run down in the last 100 yards by Penelopa.

Despite the tight finish, Beckett never felt victory was there for the taking. “The track didn’t suit her; it has lots of twists and turns,” he says. “She was not at her best and I never really felt she’d win at any stage. She wasn’t ever going well enough.”

That experience, coupled with the nature of her Oaks defeat, introduced the question of Secret Gesture’s optimum racing distance. “You have to be a proper stayer to win the Oaks and in the circumstances at Epsom, she didn’t get home," Redvers reflects.

Beckett concurs. "I think she fell in between two stools," he says. "She didn’t really get 12 furlongs; her best trip was probably 11 furlongs but there aren’t the opportunities to find out.

"I was proud of what she achieved in her career," he continues. “She raced for four seasons and kept coming back for more. She kept producing even though she danced every dance. She had a very good action, she was very sound and had an excellent temperament, which made her very straightforward to train.”

A footnote to the Arlington debacle was that the very same connections were also involved in an appeal over their Simple Verse’s demotion from the 2015 St Leger, which overlapped with the Beverly D appeal. While the latter ended in failure, the St Leger appeal succeeded.

“Much as I love Secret Gesture, if you’d told me that one of the two appeals would be successful and offered me the choice, there would only have been one answer,” Beckett says. “To win a British Classic is the pinnacle.”