New Day At The Preakness Jockey Ends Lukas’ Streak With Win Aboard Louis Quatorze

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas’ streak is over. Jockey Pat Day’s streak is very much alive.

Day rode Louis Quatorze to a wire-to-wire victory at the Preakness on Saturday, giving the jockey his third straight win in the second leg of the Triple Crown. He also ended Lukas’ remarkable streak of six straight Triple Crown victories.

“I’m sorry his streak ended,” Day said. “I’m glad my streak continued.”

The victory was particularly satisfying for trainer Nick Zito, who had three horses finish second during Lukas’ remarkable run.

Day had ridden Lukas’ Prince of Thieves in the Kentucky Derby. But Lukas replaced him in the Preakness with Jerry Bailey, who became available after Grindstone was retired last week because of a chipped bone in his right knee.

“I felt bad about being taken off Prince of Thieves, but I was only too happy Nick gave us the chance to ride this horse,” said the 42-year-old Day, who won the Preakness for Lukas on Tabasco Cat in 1994 and on Timber Country last year.

Prince of Thieves, third in the Derby, finished seventh, as Louis Quatorze, 16th in the Derby, won by 3-1/4 lengths over Skip Away, who was three lengths ahead of the Lukas-trained Editor’s Note.

Cavonnier, the Derby runner-up and Preakness favorite, finished another 2-1/2 lengths back in the field of 12 3-year-olds.

“You trade a guy, and the next time you look up, he’s beating you with a touchdown pass,” said Lukas, a former high school and college basketball coach, who often talks about racing in coaching terms. “That happens in sports.”

Louis Quatorze led all the way in winning the 1-3/16 mile classic on a sunny day at Pimlico as Lukas-trained horses lost a Triple Crown race for the first time since the 1994 Kentucky Derby.

“It was probably one of the highlights of my training career,” said Zito, 48. “Wayne gave me a hug and said, ‘Congratulations. I’m glad if my streak was broken, you broke it.’ That was really nice of him to do that.”

Before the race, Zito told Day he had a wish list. “Excellent” would mean the colt got the lead and kept it. “Good” was that he would lay second, and “fair” was that he would lay third.

“Obviously, he went for ‘excellent,”’ Zito said.

The race nearly ended early for Louis Quatorze when Secreto de Estado broke badly and stumbled.

“I was afraid he might stumble into us, but we got clear,” Day said.

“It was a brilliant ride by Pat Day,” said William Condren, one of three owners of Louis Quatorze.

Louis Quatorze shot out of the gate and was still running full throttle when he hit the wire in 1:53 2-5, matching the stakes record set by Lukas-trained Tank’s Prospect, ridden by Day in 1985.

While the race was 1-3/16 miles long, Day was feeling confident by the time the field hit the first turn.

“Coming into the first turn, I thought they’d have trouble outrunning him,” Day said. “I kept expecting someone to make a run at us. Skip Away was the only one I saw.”

It was the first wire-to-wire victory at the Preakness since Aloma’s Ruler in 1982.

Skip Away, whose trainer, Sonny Hine, said he took a beating in the run down the stretch the first time, got into second place by the time the field had reached the backstretch, and he stayed there. He almost drew even with the winner on the final turn, but couldn’t get by him.

“He got parked way out there on the first turn,” Hine said. “Pat Day is tough on the front end. We got up to him, but it was too much to overcome. I was very proud of him.”

Louis Quatorze returned $19, $7.80 and $5.20. Skip Away, ridden by Shane Sellers, paid $5.60 and $4.60. Editor’s Note was $5 to show.

Lukas had been seeking his fifth Preakness victory. It was the first for Zito, a two-time Derby winner.

Cavonnier, who had just missed by a nose against Grindstone in the Derby, had gone off the 9-5 favorite.

The $458,120 winner’s share, from a purse of $704,800, boosted to $6,749,120 the career earnings of Louis Quatorze, named for Louis XIV, the Sun King of France.

After the Derby, there were jokes that Louis Quatorze’s name should be changed to Louis XVI to reflect his finish at Churchill Downs.

Now, he can be called Louis I.