Wayne Lukas

With a lot of the negative news we often confront in racing, sometimes it's important to also see the good, like how taking just five minutes to talk to a young person who is just beginning their journey in the racing business can be. By my estimate, each person listed below graciously spent five to 10 minutes of his or her time during a very busy Derby week visiting with a dozen students from Bluegrass Community and Technical College's Equine Studies program. Yet the impressions they left will last far,...

A Review, By Bill Finley Whether it was 60 Minutes, the FX Network, HBO or some other programs, the television media has bludgeoned the horse racing game in recent years. The great parts of this game barely get mentioned while the programs concentrate on the ugly aspects, namely breakdowns and drugs. So it was reasonable to be worried that more of the same was on its way when Netflix announced it was producing a racing documentary called 'Race For The Crown.' But this show, which includes six episodes, isn't like...

With Spanish moss hanging smokily in the sunbeams, live oaks spread their embrace like wise old graybeards in conference. They make the pasture a little harder to maintain, but it's worth the extra effort to give the horses all that deep shade during the dog days of summer. And while Dr. Krista Seltzer tends to apologize that there's "nothing fancy" about Solera Farm, in many ways it appeals as an edifying alternative to more industrial operations. Certainly there are a couple of stallions here exemplary of the independent outlook Krista...

Chuck Simon, who retired from training in 2019 after a 20-year run in which he won 359 races, passed away Sunday at Saratoga Hospital after a bout with cancer. He was 57-years-old. Before going out on his own, Simon worked for Wayne Lukas, Pete Ferriola, Nick Zito and Tom Skiffington. His mentors included Allen Jerkens. He spent six years with Jerkens working as one of his assistants. He went out on his own in 1999 and five years later gave a job to a young newcomer to the track, Cherie...

4th-CD, $120k, Msw, 2yo, f, 4 1/2, post time: 2:13 p.m. EDT Charlotte Weber's Live Oak Plantation paid $750,000 for AND ONE MORE TIME (Omaha Beach) at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, the priciest filly from her sire's second crop and second-dearest overall from 95 yearlings reported as sold last season. The pedigree has taken off all around it, as, subsequent to the purchase, the filly's half-sister Simply in Front (Summer Front) finished second in Woodbine's GI Natalma S., while Honor D Lady (Honor Code) scooped the GIII Remington Park...

The GI Kentucky Derby winner is here. So is the champ of the GI Preakness S. Neither of them--Mystik Dan (Goldencents) or Seize the Grey (Arrogate)--were installed as the morning-line favorite for the 156th running of the $2 million GI Belmont S. which will be run at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday. Post time is scheduled for 6:41 p.m. That honor went to Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) at the draw, which was held Monday evening at Universal Preservation Hall in downtown Saratoga Springs. Sierra Leone was made the 9-5 morning-line...

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said GI Preakness S. winner Seize the Grey (Arrogate) will ship to Saratoga on Saturday, June 1 to prepare for the GI Belmont S. on June 8. "He came out of the Preakness remarkably well," Lukas said by phone from his base in Louisville, Ky. "Of all my [15 Triple Crown race winners], he might have come out of his race the best of any of them. He is doing damn good." Lukas said Seize the Grey will be the only horse from...

As the founder and CEO of MyRacehorse.com, Michael Behrens dreamt about days like this, winning a race at the highest level. So when Seize the Grey (Arrogate) crossed the wire first in the GI Preakness S., Behrens felt like he was living a dream. But so did the 2,570 individuals who invested in Seize the Grey, buying micro shares in the 3-year-old colt. And no doubt, so did the 88-year-old Hall of Fame trainer Wayne Lukas, who keeps making the statement that age truly is nothing more than a number....

There's not a trainer in the country who would have won the GI Preakness S. with Seize the Grey (Arrogate) other than Wayne Lukas because no one would have run him in this race except for Wayne Lukas. Horses need six, seven weeks between races. Good horses can't run more than four or five times a year, no one should ever mess with their winning percentage and run a 25-1 shot and don't dare use a jockey with no prior experience in the Triple Crown. Apparently, Lukas never got that...

Baltimore, MD--Just Steel (Justify), who finished fifth behind stablemate Seize the Grey (Arrogate) in Saturday's GI Preakness S., exited the race with a condylar fracture of the right front leg, and will require further evaluation before a full diagnosis can be given, according to D. Wayne Lukas Sunday morning. "That will fall to Dr. Larry Bramlage down in Lexington," said Lukas when asked of the colt's status. "He has seen it already, and at first blush, his reaction is that it will be ok. Obviously, it's nothing life threatening. But...

Baltimore, MD--The stage may have changed but the show remains the same. Two weeks ago, the Triple Crown train ran through Louisville, where all were treated to a sensory assault that can only be understood when experienced first-hand. With the tour moving on to Pimlico this week, there is an undeniable adjustment. It's something like comparing Taylor Swift to Courtney Love. No further explanation required. However, despite all of its shortcomings (and no, the elevator is still not working), Pimlico and the GI Preakness S. offer a charm that many...

To say that the connections of Seize the Grey (Arrogate) were disappointed that the 3-year-old wouldn't be making it into the starting gate for the GI Kentucky Derby is an understatement. D. Wayne Lukas, who had Just Steel (Justify) tabbed to run later in the day, felt that the MyRacehorse runner could also have also been competitive in the Run For the Roses. While things didn't pan out for the grey to make it into the big dance, he still came away a winner Saturday, taking the GII Pat Day...