SECRET Admiral, a three-year-old chestnut colt bred by Admiral Alex out of the Maverick mare Secret Cat, made an exciting and eye-catching, come-from-behind debut win by 5-½ lengths, in the $990,000 I Love February Trophy feature race on Saturday, February 11, 2023, at Caymanas Park.

Bred, owned, and trained by Carl Anderson, Secret Admiral was slowly getting into stride at the start of the 7-furlong (1,400m) contest, giving a jump.

De Lye La, ridden by champion Dane Dawkins, led the field down the backstretch ahead of Noisy Lady (Trevor Simpson), Hot Stepper (Oshane Nugent), Savvy Girl (Tevin Foster), Wayne’s Princess (Robert Halledeen), and Crucial Alexxya (Carlos Blake), a stablemate of Secret Admiral.

Secret Admiral only began to run, approaching the half mile (800m), when he rounded horses getting into fourth place, looking like a dangerous threat as De Lye La started to double her effort ahead of Savvy Girl and Wayne’s Princess.

With the momentum going his way Secret Admiral scooped down into second place on the heels of De Lye La approaching the turn for home. In one move Secret Admiral, who was now in full flight, exploded in deep stretch, powering away from rivals to post an emphatic victory over Savvy Girl and Hot Stepper. After splits of 24.0 x 48.0 x 1:15.0 the final time was recorded at 1:30.0.

Trainer Donovan Russell, who spoke on behalf of the connections, said Secret Admiral is well thought of at his stables and should improve to be competitive in future engagements.

“Yes, we are very pleased with the performance of Secret Admiral, especially because of the strong headwind. The final time of 1:30.0 is very good for a first-time runner going seven furlongs, with the track looking like it was running two seconds slower.

“Although it is early days yet, we have high hopes for the Classics with him. Secret Admiral is not a short-distance runner; he is a long-distance runner. But, we’re going to take it step by step with him and see how he comes on,” Russell said.