Wayne Lukas

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.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- D. Wayne Lukas says play it up, sensationalize it, blow it out of proportion.Bitter Derby rivalry: Lukas vs. Nick Zito. Cape Town vs. Halory Hunter.Trouble is, it's not true."Actually, we don't feel any rivalry," Lukas said of his relationship with fellow trainer Zito. "We're just trying to do our job and win some races. But if people think we've got this big rivalry going, that'd be great for the sport."If a personal rivalry doesn't exist, then a rivalry of statistics does.

Standing in the mist at Pimlico yesterday, Nick Zito smiled at the brouhaha brewing over the idea of a skittish colt named Coronado's Quest possibly receiving special treatment before Saturday's Preakness."

The longest winning streak in Triple Crown history ended yesterday for D. Wayne Lukas, not with a whimper, but a controversy of his own making.The streak spanned three years, four horses and six Triple Crown races. When Lukas' run to glory finally ended where it started, in the Preakness, the country's hottest trainer was left to contemplate his place in history."I've had a hell of a run, better than anybody in the country, and I appreciate that," Lukas said after his three-horse entry failed to win the Preakness.

As we near the end of 1996, a very good year in sports around here, there is only one appropriate reaction.Whew.Talk about a breathless sprint.If the next 12 months are anything like the past 12, the Bromo-Seltzer clock might just blow a gusher one of these nights when the Orioles are going into extra innings.You could argue that more happened in the past year than in the 10 prior years combined.The NFL returned to town, wearing purple, after 12 years of silent Sundays.The Orioles made it back to the playoffs for the first time since Cal Ripken was a babe at shortstop in 1983.

1. Allied ForcesHorse: Finished first in the Woodlawn Stakes at Pimlico by 3 1/2 lengths, his first race in the United States. But that was on the grass, and he has yet to be tested on the main track. Woodlawn has been his only race this year. Won two of four races in England. Likes to come off the pace.Owners: Ahmed al Tayer, a Dubai, United Arab Emirates, businessman who also has interest in powerboat racing. Wanted to keep horse running on grass, but trainer persuaded him to try dirt. Loss of Unbridled's Song affected decision to run here.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- D. Wayne Lukas still has no jockey for Honour and Glory, the fast-breaking speedster in his stable of five Kentucky Derby entries. He said Mike Smith would ride if Unbridled's Song does not enter.Holding court yesterday outside his barn, Lukas said he's having trouble ranking his starting five. The others are Grindstone, Editor's Note, Victory Speech and Prince of Thieves.So is Lukas' regular exercise rider, Donna Barton, who works them all."Honestly, it's so hard to pick them apart," Barton told the Louisville Courier-Journal.

D. Wayne Lukas, who fellow trainer Sonny Hine says likes to hunt with a shotgun, has reloaded.After losing Kentucky Derby champion Grindstone to a knee injury, Lukas said yesterday that he'll ship Victory Speech, 10th in the Derby, to Baltimore for Saturday's Preakness at Pimlico.That ups Lukas' ante to three entrants. In addition to Victory Speech, he will bring Prince of Thieves, third in the Derby, and Editor's Note, sixth in the Derby.He'll also ship Cara Rafaela for Friday's Black-Eyed Susan Stakes, Serena's Song for Saturday's Pimlico Distaff, and Michael's Star for Saturday's William Donald Schaefer Handicap.

Jerry Bailey, universally applauded for his brilliant ride on Kentucky Derby winner Grindstone, will compete in the Preakness.Bailey has accepted the mount on the Derby's third-place finisher, Prince of Thieves, after Grindstone was retired last week because of a chip in his knee.The two are familiar with each other. Bailey rode Prince of Thieves in the colt's maiden victory."I told Wayne [trainer D. Wayne Lukas] I'd pay my way anywhere to ride the horse," Bailey said of Prince of Thieves.

Cigar's first appearance since the Breeders' Cup Classic and the first Triple Crown prep on the West Coast highlight today's national racing card.After being named the Horse of the Year for 1995 last night, Cigar goes against seven others in the Grade I $300,000 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park. He is seeking his 13th straight win.It is the start of an unprecedented campaign that could take him to the West Coast three times and to the $4 million Dubai Invitational (Saudi Arabia) in search of more than $6 million in five months.

ELMONT, N.Y. -- D. Wayne Lukas was walking to the podium, preparing to give a brief interview about his two horses entered in the 141st Belmont Stakes, when he decided to inject a little comedy into the news conference. With the grace of a much younger man, the silver-haired Lukas, 74, snagged Chip Woolley's crutches and pretended to hobble to the stage. The entire room, including Woolley - who has been on crutches since he broke his leg in a motorcycle accident before the Kentucky Derby - laughed as if they had just watched Steve Martin perform a stand-up routine.

A 20-1 shot? Trainer D. Wayne Lukas was offended when his speedy Preakness entry, Flying First Class, was assigned those odds - the race's second worst - by Pimlico Race Course oddsmaker Frank Carulli on the morning line earlier this week. "You watch: We'll go off at 12-1 or even 10-1," said Lukas, who has recorded five wins and six other in-the-money finishes as a Preakness competitor since 1980. "Baltimore won't let us go off at 20-1. Not here. We've had too much luck here." It's called success, not luck, and Lukas, 71, has every right to crow.

A 20-1 shot? Trainer D. Wayne Lukas was offended when his speedy Preakness entry, Flying First Class, was assigned those odds - the race's second worst - by Pimlico Race Course oddsmaker Frank Carulli on the morning line earlier this week. "You watch: We'll go off at 12-1 or even 10-1," said Lukas, who has recorded five wins and six other in-the-money finishes as a Preakness competitor since 1980. "Baltimore won't let us go off at 20-1. Not here. We've had too much luck here." It's called success, not luck, and Lukas, 71, has every right to crow.

Horse Trainer Last race Result Preakness status Street Sense Carl Nafzger Kentucky Derby 1st Yes Hard Spun Larry Jones Kentucky Derby 2nd Yes Curlin Steve Asmussen Kentucky Derby 3rd Possible Sedgefield Darrin Miller Kentucky Derby 5th Doubtful Teuflesberg Jamie Sanders Kentucky Derby 17th Yes Xchanger Mark Shuman Federico Tesio 1st Yes King of the Roxy Todd Pletcher Santa Anita Derby 2nd Yes Chelokee Michael Matz Florida Derby 3rd Possible ...

Trainer Bob Holthus, who only a day before said it was unlikely that Lawyer Ron would compete in the May 20 Preakness, backed off - slightly - yesterday. "We're going to take some further X-rays today," Holthus said. "He's got a little something in his right hind ankle that the new owner's veterinarian is a little bit concerned about. My veterinarian and myself feel it's probably been there a long time. But we do have to respect their opinion because they now own 80 percent of him." Three days before the Kentucky Derby, in which Lawyer Ron finished 12th, the majority interest in the horse was sold to Audrey Haisfield, who also owns Stonewall Stallions.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - In this day and age of thoroughbreds racing less and less, the Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs features a throwback: a horse with 14 starts, including 12 last year as a 2-year-old. Wilko is the seasoned veteran of this 20-horse group, which includes eight with six or fewer races. Wilko also boasts the richest entry on any resume: victory in the $1.5 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile last fall at Lone Star Park. But, as every racing fan knows, no winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile has won the Kentucky Derby.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The already-thin Maryland contingent in the Breeders' Cup on Saturday at Santa Anita Park grew thinner by one yesterday when trainer Michael Dickinson announced that Deeliteful Irving would stay home. The 5-year-old horse was Dickinson's contender in the Turf. The trainer said merely that Deeliteful Irving "did not come out of his last breeze the way I wanted." The horse breezed six furlongs in 1 minute, 15 seconds Friday at Dickinson's Tapeta Farm in Cecil County. Meanwhile, Toccet galloped 1 5/8 miles yesterday at Santa Anita in preparation for the Turf - or the Classic.

Two veteran trainers who have won a combined nine Preaknesses came to Pimlico Race Course yesterday with three entries for 2003, all of whom figure to be moderate to distinctive long shots. D. Wayne Lukas (five Preakness champions) arrived with Scrimshaw and Ten Cents A Shine, both Kentucky Derby also-rans, and Bob Baffert (four) is here with Senor Swinger, considered more of a turf runner and a non-Derby participant. Lukas may have a sleeper in Ten Cents A Shine, whose workouts at Churchill Downs have impressed owner Ken Ramsey.

The longer Richard Migliore rode, the more he thought he could make history. Aboard the 45-1 long shot Magic Weisner, Migliore staged a dramatic stretch run that left him second only to winner War Emblem - by less than a length - in yesterday's 127th Preakness. With a little more track in the 1 3/16-mile race, Migliore and his Maryland colt might have delivered some indescribable Preakness magic. "I would have been happy to get [owner and trainer Nancy Alberts] a check," Migliore said after the pulsating finish.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - They had trained 16 of the past 23 winners of Triple Crown races. Yet when their horses ran one-two in the Kentucky Derby, the exacta paid $1,300.80, highest in Derby history. Bob Baffert, trainer of War Emblem, the Derby winner, and D. Wayne Lukas, trainer of Proud Citizen, the Derby runner-up, stunned the racing world nine days ago at Churchill Downs. Baffert won the 128th Derby with a horse he had trained for less than a month, and Lukas finished second with a horse who garnered more publicity for his patriotic stirrings (Proud Citizen's dam is Drums Of Freedom)