Kentucky Derby 2018 Daily: Lukas wants one more win
Welcome to Horse Racing Nation’s Kentucky Derby Daily, which will each day leading up to the May 5 race at Churchill Downs detail all the news and notes related to contenders in one convenient space.
Legendary trainer D. Wayne Lukas spoke recently with Bill Parcels, wondering why the retired football coach needs as many as 15 horses running for his stable.
Lukas: “He said, ‘Every Sunday in the NFL, I went to the stadium, and I came through that tunnel, and I got that rush.’ He said, ‘That fed me. Now that I’m retired, that’s disappeared.’”
Except for when the horses run. And Parcells encouraged Lukas to continue entering stakes at the highest level for the same reason.
Well, Lukas is back at the sport’s peak with 2018 Kentucky Derby contender Bravazo in his care. The Grade 2 Risen Star Stakes winner didn’t fire last out the Louisiana Derby, but the trainer said he has seen nothing in the colt’s training to suggest he isn’t ready for the first Saturday in May.
On a soggy Monday morning at Churchill Downs, Lukas held court for more than 20 minutes with local media members, saying of Calumet Farm-owned Bravazo, “I think he’s training well and everything, and if he was a little faster, I’d really be bragging on him. I think we’ll keep the race honest. That’s the best way to put it.”
He added that a decision regarding a jockey — Gary Stevens was up in the Louisiana Derby — remains pending.
Lukas, 82, has won four Kentucky Derbys, most recently in 1999 with Charismatic. He and Stevens also teamed to win the Preakness Stakes with Oxbow in 2013. Only Ben Jones, with six Derby victories, has more than Lukas.
The latest edition in particular may set up well for the Hall of Famer, who says in an average year there are three to four contenders you really like. In a good year, it’s five. In a great year — like this one — he imagines boxing seven horses on his Derby exacta.
“I’m at a point in my career where I’d like to get one more,” Lukas said of a Derby win. “My stock is starting to come back a little bit.”
He credited owners for getting him back in the sales ring. So while Bravazo is his latest Derby contender, it may not be his last.
“Our 2-year-olds came just the other day,” Lukas said. “I showed them to a couple other trainers, and they said they got sick to their stomachs looking at them.”
Yes, his wit remains sharp as ever.
Lukas said these days, he goes to sleep at 9 p.m. and is back up at 3:15 a.m. That’s more rest than he used to get when the barn operated on both coasts.
The key to lasting health?
“I always say that to live a good life, you should not drink, smoke or gamble,” Lukas said, “but two out of three is OK.”
And on that note, Lukas said he has a book coming out soon filled with more than 200 quotes his wife scribbled out unbeknownst to the trainer. Some are funny, and others profound in nature. Bob Baffert contributed a foreword.
But it’s not a biography, he insisted. For that, Lukas has chapters still left to write.
On track
With the surface sloppy Monday at Churchill Downs, there was little in the way of serious training done, though Steve Asmussen-trained Combatant put in an especially spirited gallop. The colt would benefit should European qualifier Gronkowski defect from the field, as his status is in doubt now, it was reported.
Blue Grass Stakes winner Good Magic, who arrived to Churchill Downs on Sunday, was seen for the first time, taking a light jog the wrong way around the track.
What’s next?
We’ll have more this afternoon after the Todd Pletcher quartet of Magnum Moon, Audible, Vino Rosso and Noble Indy arrive to Churchill Downs. We’re hearing 2017 Kentucky Derby winner Always Dreaming is coming with them as a candidate to run on this year’s undercard. After a break from the races, Always Dreaming was second in his return race on March 31, the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Hardacre Mile Stakes.
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