LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Don’t share this story with Dr. Anthony Fauci, but trainer D. Wayne Lukas is 84½ years old, less than six months recovered from significant back surgery and still reporting for work at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., seven mornings a week.
At risk?
Lukas worries about boredom as much as he worries about the COVID-19. D. Wayne Lukas is not a sit-still guy.
Yes, Lukas has a mask, but said he probably does not wear it as often as he should. Yes, Lukas is taking the pandemic seriously, even though he admitted that he “probably didn’t” when the talk about COVID-19 crowded into everybody’s conversation in early March.
“I’ve been around a long time,” Lukas said, “but I can’t think of anything close to this. My parents used to talk about the depression when I was young. This is different. This has changed everything.
“I go to the track in the morning. I go home when I’m finished training and then I go back later in the day when I have a horse that’s racing. I’m not going out. But I am going to work.”
D. Wayne Lukas trains thoroughbreds. Always has. Always will. According to Equibase, the man has trained 4,830 winners who have earned more than $282 million over the past 46 years.
Four times Lukas has trained the Kentucky Derby winner. Ten times his horses have carried him into the winner’s circle at the Preakness (6) and Belmont Stakes (4). That’s 14 Triple Crown wins.
If the Derby remained on its usual schedule and unfolded Saturday at Churchill Downs, Lukas said he would not have had a contender to saddle. But with COVID-19 pushing the race to Sept. 5, Lukas has time to work and dream.
“I’ve got a couple who have a chance to improve,” Lukas said. “You always have to believe that. You’re going to have a whole different group in September than you would have had this week.”
Until then, Lukas reports to the Oaklawn barns every morning by 5. They have been racing in Arkansas since Jan. 24. Saturday,the Arkansas Derby will be split into two, 11-horse fields. They will race at 6:29 p.m. in the sweet time spot that was supposed to be filled by the Kentucky Derby.
Without fans.
“Racing with an empty grandstand is very strange,” Lukas said. “It’s hard to describe. It’s like extended training hours. But the great thing is the handle has been tremendous. People are paying attention. We’re moving forward.”
Forward is the only direction Lukas knows. He paused briefly in the fall for a two-day hospital stay in Louisville to repair an issue in his back. He was supposed to be away from the track for six weeks. Lukas beat that prediction with gusto.
Typically, Lukas would have returned to his home in Louisville for racing at Churchill Downs by the final Monday in April. But the virus forced him to rework his schedule.
He has remained at Oaklawn, sharing a portion of his stalls with Jimmy Barnes, Bob Baffert’s assistant trainer.
“For some reason people think that Baffert and I are rivals,” Lukas said. “We’re not. We’re actually very good friends. And let me tell you something: Whenever they run the Derby, Bob is loaded again this year.”
Of course, he is. Baffert trains Authentic, Nadal and Charlatan, three of the top four horses at The Daily Racing Form Kentucky Derby Watch. Baffert has become what Lukas was several decades ago — the guy who gets the pick of the litter at the best horse sales and always comes to Churchill Downs with serious runners.
Lukas ranks No. 104 nationally in earnings among trainers. His stable has delivered seven wins, sevens seconds and 12 thirds in 74 starts this year.
Yet, he still gets to the track as early as he did when his stable won at least 218 races every year from 1985-92.
D. Wayne Lukas wouldn’t have an entry if they filled the 20-horse gate and ran the Kentucky Derby Saturday at Churchill Downs.
But by September … you never know.
“You can be sure I’ll keep trying,” Lukas said.
The Block News Alliance consists of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, The Blade of Toledo, Ohio, and television station WDRB in Louisville, Ky. Rick Bozich is a reporter for WDRB in Louisville, Ky.
First Published: April 28, 2020, 1:00 p.m.
