Gary Stevens buys D. Wayne Lukas's home near Oaklawn

Gary Stevens, the retired Hall of Fame jockey turned jockey agent, said he has purchased a home near Oaklawn previously owned by the late Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas and his wife, Laurie.

“Laurie wanted me to have it,” Stevens said. “She said she had some other offers and she said, ‘You need to be in that house.’ She made it happen.”

Stevens said the house is more than 80 years old, adding it’s “very homey, very warm.” Lukas had made Oaklawn his winter base since 2007, eventually purchasing a home in Hot Springs. He died June 28 at the age of 89.

Close friends, Lukas put Stevens on his first Oaklawn winner as a jockey, Tank’s Prospect, in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby in 1985.

“We flew in on his jet, landed here in Hot Springs, and dropped me off early in the morning, 7:30, 8 o’clock, right on Central, right in front of the grandstand,” said Stevens, then a rising star in Southern California. “I thought, ‘holy cow!’ The track’s sitting right on the main street. I’d never seen anything like it. We got out of this Lincoln Town Car and opened up the trunk. Wayne handed me my tack bag, and he said, ‘Do you like traveling like this?’ I said: ‘I love it.’ He said: ‘If you win today, get used to it.’ ”

Lukas and Stevens teamed for numerous other major victories, including the 1988 Kentucky Derby (Winning Colors), 1995 Kentucky Derby (Thunder Gulch), 1995 Belmont Stakes (Thunder Gulch), and the 2013 Preakness (Oxbow).

Stevens, as an agent, was an early-morning fixture at the Royal Glint barn, Lukas’ longtime Oaklawn home. Lukas was Oaklawn’s leading trainer in 1987 and 2011 and is its eighth-winningest trainer in history with 384 victories.

“There’ll never be another one like him,” Stevens said. “He changed the game. He was the first one to start flying horses around. Everybody thought he was nuts having this satellite training, multiple horses at multiple racetracks. He wasn’t afraid to fly in and out. Now, everybody does it.”

Stevens said he will represent newcomer Eswan Flores, Travis Wales and apprentice Amanda Poston during Oaklawn’s 64-day split season that begins Dec. 12.