Barn Tour: Lukas outlines plans for Secret Oath and 5 others

Imagine having a rejuvenated career at age 88. It is happening this year for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

“The age part doesn’t seem to bother me too much,” Lukas said last week. “I feel like I’m 40. Until I look in the mirror, I’m OK.”

If he does not want to see himself, Lukas can look around his barn at Churchill Downs. Where there were no graded-stakes winners between 2019 and 2021, now he has Secret Oath and Last Samurai. The idea of him adding to his record 20 Breeders’ Cup victories does not seem far-fetched.

“The whole thing is stimulating to have a good set of horses,” he said in an interview for Horse Racing Nation’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod. “The clients that I have now, John Bellinger and Brian Coelho (of BC Stables), are terrific, terrific clients. They’re aggressive. They’re able to step up financially and buy a good horse, and they’re tremendous to train for.”

It is not just Bellinger and Coelho. Lukas, who has outlived loyal owners like Bob Lewis, Gene Klein and Bill Young, has a mix of old and new clients who keep him busy with a career that has lasted more than a half-century with nearly 30,000 starters, earnings of more than $292 million and trophies representing 25 champions.

“I’m still riding,” he said after another day last week eyeing young equine talent at the Keeneland yearling sale. “I get up at 3 every morning, and I’m still riding four or five hours a day that I’m on my horse.”

From that vantage point he has trained his learned eyes on some standouts whose plans he outlined in this HRN Barn Tour.

Secret Oath. The winner of the 2022 Kentucky Oaks (G1) finished second to Idiomatic on Aug. 25 in the Personal Ensign (G1) at Saratoga, her first race after a 2 1/2-month break. The 4-year-old Arrogate filly will have another Grade 1 date next month in a 1 1/8-mile test at Keeneland. “She’ll run in the Spinster coming up on Oct. 8,” Lukas said. Owned by Briland Farm, Secret Oath has the Azeri (G2) victory to her name this year as well as three runner-up finishes in Grade 1 races. “I think that she probably needed, believe it or not, the race in the Personal Ensign,” Lukas said. “I think that she’ll have a really, really good effort in the Spinster at Keeneland.” Eclipse Award winner Nest, who finished third in the Personal Ensign, also is expected to line up against Secret Oath in the Spinster with both fillies being strong possibilities for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.

Last Samurai. After finishing sixth last month in the Whitney (G1) at Saratoga, Lukas said he may be calling it a year for the three-time graded-stakes victor. “He’s had some down time,” he said. “He won’t show up I don’t think this fall anymore.” Lukas did not rule out the possibility the 5-year-old Malibu Moon horse owned by the Willis Horton estate could stay in training at age 6.

Major Blue. Lukas is a part-owner of the allowance-winning, 3-year-old Flatter colt who finished first in an $88,000 claiming race last month at Saratoga. Also owned by Bob and Ann Ghent, Major Blue was in for a $75,000 tag but was not claimed. He was entered for a $125,000 allowance sprint Wednesday at Churchill Downs. “I’m going to give him one more chance to step forward,” Lukas said. “He is sitting right on the bubble of maybe stepping into the stakes-caliber races. He’s a really nice colt and very solid, so we’ll give him one more chance. He’s good. He’s OK.”

Caddo River. It has been 3 1/2 months since the 5-year-old Hard Spun horse finished last of 10 in an allowance race at Churchill Downs. A runner-up in both the 2021 Arkansas Derby (G1) and the 2023 Oaklawn Mile (G3), Caddo River may be coming off the bench Sept. 30. “We gave him some down time, and he’s coming back,” Lukas said. “He could show up later in the month, maybe even in the Lukas Classic (G2) or the Ack Ack (G3), one of those at Churchill. He’s getting back into form.” A Shortleaf Stable homebred, Caddo River has been a regular on the Churchill Downs work tab since Aug. 11.

Saratoga Secret. A debut winner at Ellis Park on June 23, the 2-year-old daughter of Arrogate finished second to Becky’s Joker in the Schuylerville (G3) on opening day at Saratoga. Owned by BC Stables, Saratoga Secret is on a break. “She’ll be a little while,” Lukas said. “I probably won’t start her until we get to Oaklawn (in December) into that stakes program. She’s really a good one.” Reading the Arkansas track’s stakes calendar, the Year’s End on Dec. 31 would be a possibility before the Martha Washington, a Jan. 27 points prep for the Kentucky Oaks.

Bourbon Bash. Another BC Stables horse, this 3-year-old City of Light colt is 16: 1-4-2 with an 0-for-9 record in 2023. However, he was in the win photo when he finished a head back in third in a $149,500 allowance race Sept. 2 at Saratoga. “I’ve probably mismanaged him,” Lukas said. “I got real high on him, and I probably overmatched him a few times. But he’s starting to really find himself, and he’s doing very well in spite of me. I look for him to step into stakes company throughout the winter.”

Lukas also put two colts on the trail for Kentucky Derby 2024 in hopes one of them might give him his fifth win in America’s biggest race and his first since Charismatic in 1999. Seize the Grey finished fourth, and Market Street was last of eight Saturday in the Iroquois (G3) at Churchill Downs, the first points prep of 2023-24.

Not to be forgotten was the fact Lukas had his 88th birthday this month. How did he celebrate it?

“I trained,” he said with a laugh. “I went and saddled a horse. My wife (Laurie) dropped me off at home and swung by Wendy’s. We had Wendy’s chili and a cheeseburger. Nothing wrong with that.”