With Horse Racing History Beckoning, Lukas Needs No Sleep

BALTIMORE —  Wayne Lukas watched the 11 o’clock news in his hotel room Saturday night, for reassurance that his Timber Country had won the Preakness several hours before.

That confirmed, Lukas took a 3 1/2-hour nap. He was up at 3 a.m. Sunday, was drinking coffee with a Baltimore police officer at 3:30 at a convenience store near Pimlico, and was at the barns by 3:50. Timber Country and Thunder Gulch, the Kentucky Derby winner who had finished third, a half-length and a neck behind his stablemate, were waiting for him, having gotten a better night’s sleep than their trainer.

There is heavier work ahead for all concerned. The two colts will be flown to Louisville, Ky., today, will train lightly at Churchill Downs for the next two weeks, and then be flown to New York on June 6, four days before the Belmont Stakes.

Lukas is on the cusp of another substantial helping of racing history--he could become the first trainer to sweep the Triple Crown in the same year with different horses--and surely this is a big deal for him, even though he’s not letting on. Sunday morning he was also blase about the possibility of becoming the first trainer of five consecutive Triple Crown race winners after Tabasco Cat’s victories in the Preakness and Belmont last year.

“These things are fine, but they’re just statistics,” Lukas said.

In the 1980s, Lukas would recite his barn’s statistics (stakes victories, purse money earned) at the drop of a phone call. But financial difficulties a few years ago, after Gene Klein, his biggest client, died, and when Calumet Farm, his next-biggest client, went belly up, have taken the sky’s-the-limit approach out of Lukas’ operation.

He no longer flies jockeys across the country for routine stakes races, if good riders are available locally. One of the reasons he won’t go to New York early for the Belmont is that he wants to reduce hotel costs.

“The day after winning one of these races, you still worry about paying the feed bill,” Lukas said. “You’re still looking at condition books, to see if you’ve got a horse that fits in the third race at Churchill Downs.”

What Lukas has achieved this year, winning both Triple Crown races and campaigning a pretty good backup act in the classy filly Serena’s Song, is stuff for the ages.

“He’s already had what would be a great year for 90% of the trainers in America,” said trainer Donnie Von Hemel, whose Our Gatsby finished seventh in the Preakness, chipping an ankle that will require surgery.

Nick Zito, 11th in the Derby with Suave Prospect and fourth in the Preakness with Star Standard, is another trainer with multiple Triple Crown victories, having won the Derby with Strike The Gold and Go For Gin.

“Winning four of these races in a row is very difficult,” Zito said. “There’s always somebody new, there’s always somebody old, who can pop up and beat you. Wayne has a lot of good horses, so he gets the opportunities. But he makes his opportunities. So give the devil his due.”

Zito might be trying to beat Lukas’ two horses with both of his horses in the Belmont. Suave Prospect is scheduled to run next Sunday in the Peter Pan at Belmont Park, and might come back in the Belmont Stakes as well. Definite for the Belmont is Star Standard, who was lightly regarded before the Preakness.

“Lukas has two real good horses, and they’re very consistent,” Zito said. “It will be extremely tough to beat both of them in the Belmont. How can it happen? The only scenario I can see is if Star Standard tries to steal the race. His style is to go out there early, and I don’t think Wayne would send Thunder Gulch out there to challenge him. He can’t sacrifice Thunder Gulch to set up the race for Timber Country, because the horses have got different owners.”

The Belmont Stakes will draw from a pool that includes four Preakness horses--Timber Country, Thunder Gulch, Star Standard and Pana Brass, who bled from the lungs Saturday while running 10th in his first start in the United States. Other possibilities are Illinois Derby winner Peaks And Valleys, plus Ave’s Flag, Blu Tusmani, Citadeed, Flitch, Is Sveikatas, Knockadoon and Treasurer. Some of these horses might also run in the Peter Pan.

After the Belmont, Lukas will send Thunder Gulch to California, probably to run in the Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park and the Pacific Classic at Del Mar. Timber Country will be the barn’s Travers horse, at Saratoga, and will remain in the East to prepare for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Belmont Park in the fall.

Serena’s Song, who won Friday’s Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at Pimlico, originally was scheduled to run in two races at Hollywood Park, but now will go to New York with the colts for the Mother Goose, which will be run on June 9, the day before the Belmont. Her only Hollywood Park appearance will be in the Hollywood Oaks.

Although she was 16th in the Kentucky Derby, there is a chance she might race against colts again.

“Who knows?” Lukas said Sunday. “If the Haskell [at Monmouth Park] comes up light, we’d consider running her there.”