Lukas Won’t Run For These Roses Top Trainer Horseless For Kentucky Derby

A Kentucky Derby without D. Wayne Lukas? It’s unthinkable, yet likely.

It hasn’t happened in 17 years, but Lukas doesn’t have an obviously worthy colt in his huge stable of 3-year-olds for the Derby on Saturday, and his star filly, Sharp Cat, appears headed for another race.

“I can handle it, no problem,” Lukas said. “I’d like to be in it, but I’ll feel comfortable not being there, after the run we’ve had.”

Lukas has had at least one Derby starter every year since 1981, and in that time he’s won it three times. He’s started 31 horses in America’s most prestigious horse race, including an all-time high of five last year.

He won the last two Derbies, with Thunder Gulch in 1995 and Grindstone in ‘96, and put together a record run of six straight victories in Triple Crown races that ended with a loss in last year’s Preakness.

“It’s just never enough, though,” said Lukas, the most famous man in horse racing - a title that brings with it the pressure to win all the time.

As impressive as Lukas’ numbers are, the negative side of the ledger this year is equally imposing.

With only one event left in the 26-race Visa Triple Crown series for 3-year-olds, Lukas has just one victory from 21 starters, Trafalger in the lowly Lafayette Stakes on April 3 at Keeneland. It’s not even considered a major Derby prep.

All this from what Lukas touted last year as his best-ever crop of 2-year-olds. From 15 homebreds and 50 or more 2-year-olds purchased at auction, Lukas is down to none, basically.

“That’s what makes this the greatest game played outdoors,” said trainer Nick Zito, who stopped Lukas’ string of Triple Crown victories last year when he saddled Preakness winner Louis Quatorze. “Nobody has a lock on it, whether it’s Nick Zito or Wayne Lukas.”

While many of Lukas’ Derby woes were caused by horses that didn’t live up to expectations, there have been others with physical problems.

“It’s true. We had a hell of a crop last year, but some of the ones I was really counting on … there was no way to predict what happened to them,” Lukas said. “For example, take Joshua Dancer. He comes up with a paralyzed flap, and he can’t breathe right.”

Then, there was 2-year-old champion Boston Harbor.

“He did everything right as a 2-year-old and broke his cannon bone,” Lukas said.

With just a week left before the Derby, Lukas has only a slim chance to avoid a shutout. Despite finishing sixth in her first race against colts, in the Santa Anita Derby on April 3, Sharp Cat has looked good since arriving at Churchill Downs.

Lukas admits he is tempted to enter her in the Derby instead of the Kentucky Oaks the day before, but there’s a catch. She is owned by Prince Ahmed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia, whose racing manager, Dick Mulhall, seems set against running her in the Derby.

Lukas once remarked that the men who own the horses he trains don’t hire him to win feature races on Thursdays. They hire him to get them to the big ones, and win.

“It’s kind of like being Dean Smith. It’s not good enough to get to the Final Four anymore, you have to win it,” Lukas said. “It’s like there are two sets of standards, one for me and another one for the rest.

“I win training titles, my horses win championships, we win Breeders’ Cup races, and it’s never enough. For another guy, a run like we had might be a whole career. But I tell you what, I’m not going to worry about that.”