LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Shortly after 4 in the morning, D. Wayne Lukas was back to work at Pimlico.
He had just won the Preakness the day before with Charismatic, achieving two-thirds of the Triple Crown. Yet he and his wife, Laura, a couple immersed in horses, had returned to the Pimlico stakes barn in the deep black of night.
After the Preakness, they had collapsed into their room at the Cross Keys Inn and called room service. They ordered cheeseburgers and milkshakes.
They drank no champagne. They did not celebrate with friends. By 9: 30 p.m., they were asleep.
"That's about as wild as it gets," Laura said.
For Lukas, the most accomplished thoroughbred trainer in history, horses are life. By devoting nearly every waking hour for four decades to horse racing, Lukas has won just about everything there is to win -- except the Triple Crown.
He won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes the same year (1995), but not with the same horse. If Charismatic captures the 131st Belmont on Saturday at Belmont Park, the great-grandson of Secretariat will become the 12th Triple Crown winner and first since Af firmed in 1978.
After the Preakness, Lukas sent the colt back to Churchill Downs. Here, in the shadow of the twin spires, he has prepared Charismatic for the pressure-packed run at history. Tomorrow, Lukas and the colt will fly to New York -- after Charismatic's final workout for the Belmont this morning.
Despite the strain of nursing a horse through three grueling races in five weeks, Lukas smiles and jokes more than he has in years. At 63, the sometimes combative, egotistical horseman seems to have mellowed.
"You have to lighten up," said his wife. "I think sometimes you've got to get your feet back on the ground. You know what I mean -- reality check."
Laura has been the one to keep Lukas' feet planted on earth. Feisty and 40, she became Lukas' fourth wife June 15 last year. They met at a horse track. Laura trains quarter horses and thoroughbreds.
They flew from California, where they live, to Las Vegas to get married -- after training horses in the morning. Laura persuaded Lukas to spend the night before flying back to work. They attended a show by a comedian.
"And Wayne fell asleep," Laura said.
Because of Laura, Lukas has returned to quarter horses, the lightning-quick breed that sprints a quarter-mile at tracks mostly in the Southwest and California. Lukas trained them for 20 years before switching full time to thoroughbreds in 1978.
