Horse Racing
Bill Finley 9y

Run 'em if you got 'em

Horse Racing

Run a horse back in three weeks off a Breeders' Cup win? Is Wayne Lukas mad? Or is Wayne Lukas the only trainer left who isn't afraid to treat his race horses like race horses and not fine porcelain china.

In a sport where far too many trainers think the key to success, and that the best way to make money for their owners, is to run their horses as infrequently as possible, this iconic veteran trainer has emerged as a breath of fresh air. Lukas ran two horses in the Breeders' Cup 2-year-old dirt races and both will be wheeled right back three weeks later to start Saturday at Delta Downs. Juvenile Fillies winner Take Charge Brandi will run in the $400,000 Delta Princess and Mr. Z, fifth in the Juvenile, will go in the $1 million Delta Downs Jackpot.

Thanks in part to Lukas, on an otherwise quiet Saturday of racing, the national spotlight will focus on the small track in Vinton, Louisiana and the card is a must-play for all simulcasting bettors.

"What's happened is that there's gotten to be a philosophy of ours, especially with some of the newer, younger trainers that you need a certain amount of space between races," Lukas said.

"We've always taken the attitude that the best way to tell whether the horses are up to it or not is to simply watch them closely. They'll tell you. I always felt that when these horses are good they only have so many top level performances in them. I think sometimes we try to manage them a little bit too much and the next thing you know something goes wrong and we don't get it done. I like to run them when they're good."

So he has two horses that are good and they will compete for a combined $1.4 million between the Princess and the Jackpot. Why wouldn't he run?

"I think it's ok to be cautious," he said. "But what I told the owners is where else are we going to get a 400,000 race and a $1 million race at this time of year? Plus it has implications, like the point systems for the [Kentucky] Derby and Oaks and implications for year-end honors and championships. I feel the reward is much greater than the risk. It's pretty lopsided."

In the midst of a career that will go down as perhaps the most successful in racing history, Lukas is unafraid to do things his way, whether that means running back in three weeks or running horses that look hopelessly overmatched on paper. Take Charge Brandi was 61-1 in the Juvenile Fillies. Many trainers, obsessed with their winning percentages, would have looked for an easier spot. Not Lukas.

"I read the horses in front of me and I don't get caught up in the morning line too much, whether it's positive in our favor or whether we're 60-1," he said. "I like to look at what I'm working with. And I've been blessed with so many nice young horses I think I have a pretty good feel for what it takes to win a Breeders' Cup regardless of the odds. Take Charge Brandi had a wonderful month, did everything right. There was one little wrinkle I had to deal with and that was did she like the track? When I saw she liked the track at Santa Anita I thought we had a great shot."

Run horses four or five times a year and only when they're 5-2 or less and you'll probably wind up having a good winning percentage, a figure many trainers obsess over. Nobody wants to be under 20 percent. Lukas is a 12 percent winner on the year, and that no doubt hurts him when it comes to attracting owners. But run 60-1 shots and run your horses any time they're fit and ready and not just every seven or eight weeks and it's awfully hard to maintain a high percentage.

"Maybe my horses are 5 percent horses and I get them to be 12 percent horses," Lukas said. "I know I'm boasting a little, but I think I do a helluva job. We don't have a stable with the depth we used to have where we could knock out 25 percent like we did in the eighties. We still have the ability to take two, three horses and get the very most out of their abilities. I'm not afraid to run at 5, 6, 10 percent. I don't care. What I care about is doing a good job for my clients. After all these years of knocking out $270, $280 million and winning the races I've won in my career, if I have to worry about my reputation at this point I'd really have a problem."

So Lukas will show up at Delta Downs. He doesn't have to win. But he has a chance; a chance to make a lot of money for his owners with two perfectly healthy horses that have ample ability. Meanwhile, a handful of other horses that could easily win one of these rich races will spend the afternoons in the stall doing nothing.

Don't be surprised if the last laugh belongs to Wayne Lukas.

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