D. Wayne Lukas

1988 GI Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors (Caro {Ire}) will have her accomplishments recognized throughout the week via a partnership between Horse Racing Radio Network and Keeneland Sales, the pair announced Monday. Coverage of 'Winning Colors Week' began April 29 and will continue through May 4 with tributes to Winning Colors held on air and displayed across the network's various social media channels. The Derby winner, purchased by D. Wayne Lukas from Keeneland as a yearling in 1986, was named Champion 3-year-old Filly and inducted into the Hall of Fame...

Five contenders took advantage of a mild, dry Sunday morning in Louisville to put in final works at Churchill Downs ahead of next weekend's GI Kentucky Derby. First of the group to work was BC Stable's Just Steel (Justify), who went out just as the track opened at 5:15 a.m. Sunday. The bay colt worked four furlongs in :50.40 (52/60), registering splits of :13.40 and :25.20 before being eased up on the gallop out. "Just a slow maintenance work. We're close to the race, we didn't want to do much,"...

Beach Faulkner was at Keeneland one day when John Williams called him over and pointed at a horse being led off a van a couple of barns down. "Look at this," Williams said. "Watch him walk. You might as well put your name on the side of that horse." Beach remembers the great horseman's compliment with a smile. He's been working on horses' feet for 57 years, more than half of that time with son Tyler alongside, until he too has come to share the same mastery. They are farriers,...

While several Kentucky Derby 150 contenders had regular training sessions Sunday morning, Japan's undefeated hope MGSW Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) made his first appearance on the Churchill Downs main track since arriving early Saturday morning. Conditioned by Yoshito Yahagi and under rider Yusaku Oka, the colt jogged in the one-mile chute for about 20 minutes before taking a 1 1/8-mile gallop in the early hours. Shortly after at 7:30am, GSW Honor Marie (Honor Code) worked in company with stablemate Anthem King (Bolt d'Oro), the pair breezing a half-mile...

Prep season for the GI Kentucky Oaks is over and we have a pretty good idea of who is going to be in the race and which ones are the horses to beat. With three major preps--the GI Ashland S., the GII Santa Anita Oaks and the GIII Gazelle S.--all run over the weekend, there was plenty of movement in our Top 10. But the very solid Tarifa (Bernardini) maintains the top spot for Brad Cox. Here's a look at the latest installment of our Kentucky Oaks Top Ten: 1)...

While they may not have received the end result they were hoping for, nearly 300 owners enjoyed a memorable weekend at Keeneland as their horse Seize the Grey (Arrogate) ran in the GI Blue Grass S. A $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga purchase for MyRacehorse trained by D. Wayne Lukas, Seize the Grey was coming into his Grade I debut off a third-place performance in the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks S. The colt's connections were hoping that he would be able to run in the money in order to acquire enough points...

For a time, Wayne Lukas was as much a part of the GI Kentucky Derby as mint juleps and roses. From 1981, when he sent out his first Derby starter in Partez, to 2000, he had at least one starter in the race every year while running a total of 38 horses. Four of them--Winning Colors, Thunder Gulch, Grindstone and Charismatic--won. But he hasn't had a starter since Bravazo (Awesome Again) in 2018 and hasn't had a winner since Charismatic in 1999. But the drought is over as the 88-year-old...

Steve Asmussen has indicated an interest in saddling a starter at the 2024 Sandy Ride at Red Mile Quarter Horse meet, according to stallionesearch.com. The Hall of Famer did not have a set number of confirmed runners, stall applications were due Thursday, Feb. 29, but Sandy Ridge racing manager Terry Oliver was reportedly instrumental in getting Asmussen back to his roots in Quarter Horse racing. His family had been involved in the industry in the early 1970s, originating with parents Marilyn and Keith Asmussen. It would be his first such...

The team at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company does everything it can to run a clean sale. Under OBS's conditions of sale, no medication may be administered within 24 hours of a horse's under-tack performance, 10 to 15% of the horses who are going to sell are tested, and in 2019, OBS prohibited the use of bronchodilators like Clenbuterol at all of its sales. It may not be enough. The Jeffrey Englehart story has suggested that may be the case. Englehart bought a Classic Empire colt at the OBS auction...

The coach strikes again. Before seeing any past performances, if one was asked to guess Saturday morning before the day's races which trainer might break a maiden in a graded Kentucky Oaks points race while at the same time helping a young jockey get his first career graded score, odds are the first name off of most everyone's lips would be D. Wayne Lukas. The Hall of Famer, with his usual flair for the unconventional, sent out 28-1 Lemon Muffin (f, 3, Collected--Pelt, by Canadian Frontier) under Keith Asmussen to...

The massive deep freeze which crippled the second half of Oaklawn Park's January cards seems like a distant memory, as weekend weather in Hot Springs looks to punch through the upper 60s and into the lower 70s. The sunshine will be a welcome sight with points intended for passage to the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks ripe for the picking.   Timberlake Favorite Choice in Rebel The Arkansas series for the colts features another running of the GII Rebel S., which brings together a field of 13. The...

Edited Press Release The Kentucky Derby Museum has named Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas as the inaugural recipient of the Kentucky Derby Museum's Lifetime Achievement Award. With Lukas in attendance at the Derby 150 Birthday Tribute Dinner, scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. ET on Thursday, Apr. 11 at the Kentucky Derby Museum. Lukas has achieved remarkable success, including four GI Kentucky Derby victories. His unparalleled dedication to the sport and influence on countless individuals in the racing community make him a deserving recipient of the Museum's first...