Up On The ‘Downs

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —  The Lukas family seems to have its priorities in order.

Laura Lukas, who trains a string of quarter horses at Los Alamitos, will saddle 11 of them in races Saturday night.

At Churchill Downs on Saturday afternoon, her husband, Wayne Lukas, will send out three colts in the $1-million Kentucky Derby.

“Laura called me the other day and said my race isn’t that big,” Wayne Lukas said. “She said her races are the big ones.”

Laura Lukas was here a year ago when her husband reinstated himself as the premier Derby trainer of the 1990s. She has already won her derby this year, the Los Alamitos Derby last Saturday with Worth A Look.

Bob Baffert threatened to replace Wayne Lukas atop Olympus by winning the Derby with Silver Charm in 1997 and Real Quiet in 1998, but Lukas’ upset win with the 31-1 Charismatic last year--while the best of Baffert’s three horses finished fourth-- gave him four wins overall and three wins since 1995.

Before Charismatic, Lukas won the Derby with Winning Colors in 1988, Thunder Gulch in 1995 and Grindstone in 1996. His starters Saturday, in the 126th running, will be High Yield and Commendable, part of a four-horse entry and 5-1 on the morning line, and Exchange Rate, who’s 30-1.

Asked Thursday if it’s possible--against the two horses from California, 9-5 favorite Fusaichi Pegasus and the 4-1 The Deputy--that he might win the Derby for the fourth time in six years, Lukas said: “Why not? If you get them to the gate, you’re dangerous. I don’t exactly believe that Exchange Rate is 30-1. I’m always upbeat going into this race. If your mood is doom and gloom, then you better get another profession.”

None of Lukas’ Derby winners were favored. Winning Colors, the third and last filly to win the race, came the closest as the second choice; only $4,374 separated her and the favorite, Private Terms. Besides Charismatic, Thunder Gulch went off 24-1 and Grindstone, at 5-1, was part of an entry and the third choice.

High Yield, to be ridden by Pat Day, goes into the Derby with four wins in 12 starts, the most recent victory three weeks ago in the Blue Grass Stakes at nearby Keeneland. There’s not another horse in the 19-horse field who has raced as much.

“I’ve never won this race by going in soft,” Lukas said. “By soft, I mean a cream-puff schedule, soft workouts, babying the horses. This isn’t the junior prom. In the Derby, you’re going to war.”

As remarkable as his four wins is that Lukas hasn’t missed a Derby since he ran in his first one, when Partez finished third in 1981. He ran 12 horses from 1981 through 1987, none finishing higher than Partez, but toward the end of that period he stuck out his jaw and said: “We’re going to win this thing, just wait and see. And we’re going to win it more than once.”

This will be the 10th time that Lukas has fielded a multiple entry in the Derby. He has run two horses in the race four times, three horses four times, and in 1996, the year Grindstone won, he started an unprecedented five horses.

“To get here every year, you’ve got to have the talent and you’ve got to recruit [owners],” said Lukas, talking like the former basketball coach that he is. “A lot of guys have come in here and won this race once. Eddie Gregson [Gato Del Sol, 1982]. Cam Gamboloti [Spend A Buck, 1985]. David Cross [Sunny’s Halo, 1985]. But it’s tough getting back. Gregson was down to six horses at one time. Gamboloti’s in Florida with a small stable. Cross is out of the game, running the track kitchen at Santa Anita. Even Jack Van Berg [Alysheba, 1987] doesn’t have the volume [of horses] that he used to.

“Winning the Derby doesn’t guarantee success. It probably only gets you to the Preakness.”

Although High Yield has speed, Lukas doesn’t envision him running the race like Winning Colors, who got out on the lead and then barely held off Forty Niner at the wire.

“Nobody’s going to get out there like Winning Colors did,” Lukas said. “I think there’ll be four or five horses fighting for the lead. High Yield’s a [son of] Storm Cat, and the good Storm Cats don’t run off and hide in a race. Tabasco Cat, Sharp Cat, horses like that, they were all dog fighters.”

Lukas, elected to the Racing Hall of Fame last year, the first time he was on the ballot, has won 12 Triple Crown races. Besides the four Derby victories, he has won the Preakness five times and the Belmont Stakes three times. Starting with Tabasco Cat’s Preakness in 1994, he won six consecutive Triple Crown races. Tabasco Cat also won the Belmont, and after that came wins by Thunder Gulch in the Derby, Timber Country in the Preakness, Thunder Gulch in the Belmont and Grindstone in the Derby.

Lukas knows the route to the winner’s circle at Churchill Downs as well as he knows the streets from Santa Anita to his home in Arcadia.

“The stretch is long here,” he said, “but your horse better be in position to do something before you get to the stretch.”

Lukas says Saturday’s field has been overrated. Baffert, who’s running Captain Steve, said six or seven horses have a chance to win, instead of the usual three or four.

“There are no Spectacular Bids, Seattle Slews or Secretariats in there,” Lukas said. “If there’s a dominant horse in this crop, I don’t know who that would be. It’s very competitive, but there are no superstars.”

Fusaichi Pegasus, winner of the Wood Memorial in his last race, is being projected by some as a Triple Crown champion.

“My group was the underbidder when he was sold [for $4 million],” Lukas said. “Now, knowing what we know, it would have been nice to have him in the barn.”

At 64, Lukas is not slowing down. He drives himself and his staff. The hours are early and long, and he never takes time off. He said a couple of years ago that for fun he was going back into quarter horses.

“Guys stay in this business a long time because good horses--and the search for the good ones--keep bringing them back,” Lukas said. “I’ve got no retirement plans. I’m afraid everybody’s going to have to put up with me for at least another 20 years.”

Horse Racing Notes

Globalize bit his lead pony as they were coming off the track after a gallop at Churchill Downs on Thursday morning. The pony kicked Globalize, causing a three-inch gash in his left hind leg, and the colt has been scratched from the Kentucky Derby. Globalize, 50-1 on the morning line, was scheduled to break from the No. 1 post. All of the 19 remaining horses will move one stall to the left, which gives Anees the rail position. The biggest benefactor may be Impeachment, who gets out of the auxiliary gate and moves into stall 14 and the main gate. Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, who has never had a Derby starter, said that Globalize’s wound was stitched up. He’ll be flown back to Northern California on Tuesday.