It would not be a Kentucky Derby without D. Wayne Lukas

Louisville, Ky.

It could not have been the first time D. Wayne Lukas heard the encomium that was offered him at the end of a morning interview at his Churchill Downs barn this week.

Told for the umpteenth time that it would not be a Kentucky Derby without him, the 88-year-old Hall of Fame trainer sounded nonplussed.

“You’re very kind to say that,” he said. “I think they’ll run it every year without me, but it’s fun to be in it.”

In truth the 30th Derby for Lukas will be his first in six years. A quarter-century removed from when Charismatic provided him the most recent of his four Derby triumphs, Lukas comes into next Saturday with his 50th starter for the classic. Just Steel qualified when he finished second to trainer Bob Baffert’s highly regarded Muth last month in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby.

Just two years since Secret Oath gave him his record-tying fifth victory in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), Lukas returns Friday with Lemon Muffin, who broke her maiden two starts back in a 28-1 triumph in the Honeybee (G3).

“Since we came in from Arkansas, where we had a real good meet, a real good meet, (Just Steel and Lemon Muffin) are doing well here,” Lukas said in his interview for Horse Racing Nation’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod.

Lukas and owners John Bellinger and Brian Coelho of BC Stables hope Just Steel will repeat what he did the last time he raced at Churchill Downs. That was a first-place finish in the $225,000 Ed Brown Stakes, a black-type race that covered 6 1/2 furlongs the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Never mind that it was a win over the same track where the Derby will be run.

“I think it’s more important that he showed that he had that kind of speed,” Lukas said. “That was a sprint race, and I was really delighted to see that he had that kind of speed. I don’t think it makes a big difference that he had one over the surface. It doesn’t hurt, but I wouldn’t put a lot of credence into that.”

Lukas said the more salient point was that the $500,000 Justify colt moved from third to second late in last month’s 1 1/8-mile Arkansas Derby, suggesting an affinity for the longer distance he will be asked to cover next Saturday.

“I think that the extra eighth in a mile-and-a-quarter race is probably in his wheelhouse very much,” Lukas said. “The fact that his last race was his best race is more important to me. That he is moving in the right direction.”

The numbers vouch for that with career-bests. Just Steel got a 95 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing Form, and a 97 Brisnet Speed Rating.

“The handicapping numbers people came up with that Derby prep as a very strong race,” Lukas said. “The numbers were real good. Muth (ineligible for the Kentucky Derby) would have probably would have been one of the favorites here, and we were right there at him. We had a shot at him. I just feel like we’re heading in the right direction at least.”

The sample size for Just Steel is another old-school throwback. The 11 races on his past performances will be more than any other Derby starter. Aside from West Saratoga, who has had 10 starts, no other horse in next Saturday’s run for the roses has more than seven.

“They’re bred to run,” Lukas said, point blank. “If they’re healthy and good and sound, I run them. I get them over there and run them. On three or four occasions at (Oaklawn), I ran back in two weeks or three weeks. It worked out very successfully. I don’t have any problem entering them if they’re good.”

It is not that much different for Lemon Muffin, a $140,000 daughter of City Zip owned by Aaron Sones. The 1 1/8-mile Oaks will be her eighth race since her debut seven months ago. Before she won the 1 1/16-mile Honeybee in her first try around two turns, she finished second in four consecutive maiden races, all sprints.

“When she was running second, we knew she was in the wrong spot,” Lukas said. “By that I mean she was going six furlongs. What happened was we knew that when we stretched her out to two turns and a mile or beyond, she was going to excel, and that’s exactly what happened. She was a different horse when we ran her in the Honeybee. She just exploded at the top of the stretch, so we’re looking for that here.”

So what went wrong when Lemon Muffin finished a listless seventh last month in the 1 1/16-mile Fantasy (G2)?

“She was a little under the weather,” Lukas said. “She’s trained really, really well since we got here, so I feel like we’re in pretty good shape. She just wasn’t herself. I felt that when I saddled her. She wasn’t doing that well.”

Lemon Muffin and Just Steel will be ridden by Keith Asmussen, 25, the son of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. The second-winningest jockey at the current Oaklawn meet, the 5-foot-10 Asmussen will be riding Lukas’s colt for the second time and his filly for the fourth.

“Always loved the filly and always trusted Wayne,” Keith Asmussen said after winning the Honeybee. “Couldn’t have been more excited.”

“He’s come along very well,” Lukas said. “He’s developed very rapidly. He’s very smart. He rides well. He puts a horse in a position. Obviously he hasn’t had a lot of experience, but I’m very comfortable with him.”

It was not just from racing, either. Lukas has known the Asmussen family for about 60 years dating to the elder Keith Asmussen, Steve’s father and the jockey’s grandfather.

A trip to the Lukas barn would not be complete without some of his trademark axioms.

Asked whether two-time Grade 2 winner Tarifa deserved to be the buzz horse in the Oaks, he said, “Buzz is always OK. Still, you can’t mail it in. You’ve got to go out there and do it.”

Regarding concerns about whether there will be an honest pace in the Derby, he said, “There’s always pace here. These riders get caught up in it, and there’s always plenty of pace.”

About other trainers not racing their horses as often as he does, Lukas said, “I don’t worry about it at all. Most of the younger trainers are pretty conservative.”

And about the healthy auction price and strong bloodlines that make Just Steel look like a classic Lukas horse for the Derby, he said, “I bought him (for BC Stables) to do just what we’re trying to do here. He was the one 2-year-old when we started breaking 2-year-olds that we thought had a chance to move forward to be a Derby horse. I think we’re pretty much on target.”