Lukas back on top following Oxbow's Preakness win

Back in the 1980s and '90s when trainer D. Wayne Lukas was

winning Triple Crown races with astonishing regularity, the catch-phrase "D.

Wayne off the plane" followed him from track to track as he made his hit-and-run

assaults on racetracks across America with a lineup of assistants that included

Todd Pletcher, Mark Hennig, Kiaran McLaughlin and Dallas Stewart.

The glory days of Lukas had seemingly subsided in the new

millennium with the passing of wealthy clients like Eugene Klein, W. T. Young

and Bob Lewis. In recent years, Lukas had geared down his operation and had

become more of a fringe player on racing's biggest stage.

That all changed Saturday when the 77-year-old Hall of

Famer saddled his record-14th Triple Crown race winner, Oxbow, for the 138th

Preakness for legendary Calumet Farm, which had similarly faded from the

forefront of major Thoroughbred racing.

It was the first spring classic winner for Lukas since

Commendable took the Belmont Stakes in 2000, and the Preakness score by Oxbow

ended a drought in the classics for Calumet dating all the way back to Forward

Pass' victory in the 1968 Preakness.

Lukas and his nine-horse contingent, that also included

Dixie upsetter Skyring and his personal pony, were on the highway before dawn

Sunday morning, heading back to their home base at Churchill Downs. Then it's on

to the Belmont Stakes in three weeks with Oxbow and possibly seventh-place

finisher Will Take Charge. Titletown Five, Lukas' third Preakness entrant who

finished last, will run in shorter races for the rest of his three-year-old

campaign.

"I've always rode with the horses all my career," said

Lukas, who now has six Preakness winners, one behind Robert Walden for the

all-time record in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. "I used to go on the

airplanes and stand there with them all the time. We don't fly much anymore."

He's "the man on the van" these days, having ridden in a

pickup truck for more than 12 hours to Pimlico on Tuesday and scheduled to

follow the same routine back home Sunday.

"I'll get him home at feeding time just about," Lukas explained.

"By the time I get him home and give him a bath it'll be right about 5 o'clock

(EDT).

They put a bucket seat where I ride on kind of an air-ride slide thing. It's

like riding in a boat somewhere on the waves."

This Preakness was a serious helping of history for the

connections of the winner. In addition to Lukas and Calumet, jockey Gary Stevens

capped an unlikely comeback at age 50 by winning his third Preakness. His

previous victories came aboard Silver

Charm (1997) and Point Given (2001).

Last year at this time, Stevens was working in Baltimore as

a TV analyst for NBC and HRTV. Lukas said all week he was thrilled to have the

Hall of Famer aboard Oxbow and was encouraged by his Derby performance.

"He's so on top of all this stuff," Lukas praised. "He'll tell

you the fractions, who was laying fourth on the backside and everything. He's

very into this, very into this."

Oxbow, a son of Breeders' Cup Classic winner Awesome Again,

is Lukas' first Preakness winner since Charismatic in 1999. His other Preakness

winners were Timber Country (1995), Tabasco Cat (1994), Tank's Prospect (1985)

and Codex (1980).

Over those glory days, there was a sometimes

not-so-friendly rivalry with colleague Bob Baffert, who saddled Govenor Charlie

to a disappointing eighth-place finish Saturday. It was Baffert's 14th Preakness

starter (five winners), well behind Lukas' record total of 40.

"Over the years a lot of people thought that Baffert and I

had a rivalry, when actually we come from pretty similar backgrounds and we're

pretty good friends," Lukas said. "It was really significant yesterday when he

came down and congratulated me right after the race. A mutual friend of ours

said that when his horse didn't look like he was getting it done at the

half-mile pole, Bob and a friend were jumping up and down and saying, 'Go get

'em, Lukey.'"

Lukas said almost immediately after the Preakness that he

hoped to try Oxbow in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes.

"I was trying to be politically correct all week, but I

thought (Oxbow) was the toughest horse. I thought if there was some adversity or

something went wrong, he had the best chance to overcome," Lukas admitted. "Will

Take Charge is so big that he has to get a clear run. He can't check, stop, take

a bump or anything. The other horse (Titletown Five) we knew was going to need a

career quantum leap forward."

Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com