Now, It’ll Be Deeds, Not Words for Lukas

Just because trainer Wayne Lukas ran a quarter horse at Los Alamitos Friday night doesn’t mean that he’s considering a career change. “I’ve got some other quarter horses,” Lukas said. “But they’re the ones we use for ponies at Santa Anita.”

All the rest are thoroughbreds, the game Lukas turned upside down when he left Los Alamitos and quarter horses in 1978. Lukas’ thoroughbreds have earned a record $182 million, but with all the pinnacles there have also been the valleys, one of which came this year when he finished last with his only starter in the Kentucky Derby, and, it turns out, his only runner in the Triple Crown series.

In 1994-96, Lukas won six consecutive Triple Crown races, but after the 13th-place finish by Deeds Not Words in this year’s Derby, Pimlico ran a Preakness for the first time without Lukas since 1984, and on June 7 Lukas won’t be represented in the Belmont Stakes, a race he has won the last three years. Two of Lukas’ major clients, Bob and Beverly Lewis, will be running in the Belmont, shooting for a Triple Crown sweep with Silver Charm, a colt trained by Bob Baffert.

If the success of Silver Charm has compounded Lukas’ Triple Crown frustrations this year, it doesn’t show. After the Derby, Lukas embraced Bob Lewis, telling him that the victory “is the most wonderful experience you’ll ever have,” and now he feels that Silver Charm will add that elusive third jewel at Belmont Park.

“He’s odds-on to do it,” Lukas said. “He’s the ‘now’ horse in a year when everything’s gone his way, but hasn’t gone everybody else’s way.”

Spending more than $20 million on young horses, Lukas began the year with 23 horses eligible for the Triple Crown, four of them owned by the Lewises, but by Kentucky Derby time his only legitimate prospect was the filly Sharp Cat. But even Sharp Cat, after hooking up with Silver Charm in a furious speed duel, had finished sixth in the Santa Anita Derby, and her owner, Ahmed Bin Salman, resisted Lukas’ blandishments to run in the Kentucky Derby.

Attempts to buy a Derby contender failed, and by Tuesday of Derby week, with entry time about 24 hours away, Lukas said that he wouldn’t be running in the race for the first time since 1980.

But Deeds Not Words, a colt with four starts, a win against maidens and defeats by 11 1/2 and 7 3/4 lengths in his most recent races, worked three furlongs in :36 2/5, and Lukas figured that was enough to open the door. He called Demi O’Byrne, racing manager for Michael Tabor, one of Deeds Not Words’ owners, and they decided to run. Deeds Not Words was made 50-1 on the morning line, went off at 38-1 and was beaten by 25 lengths.

Before the Derby, criticism of Lukas was widespread and harsh. A crowded Wednesday news conference in a tent not far from Lukas’ barn quickly turned into an inquisition. He was accused of putting his ego ahead of the game. One columnist, Pat Forde of the Louisville Courier-Journal, suggested that D. Wayne Lukas’ real first name was “Delusional.”

Lukas has been taking names of his detractors, something he did in the wake of the 1993 Preakness, when Union City broke down and was destroyed. At his Santa Anita barn two days ago, Lukas said future interviews would be limited.

“I stand up there all day and talk to these guys,” Lukas said. “I go to these post-position breakfasts that I don’t like any more than they do, and then they lambaste me. Well, it will depend on who comes around whether I talk to them.

“There was a double standard at work when Union City died, and there’s that same double standard now. Three weeks after Union City, Prairie Bayou was put down at the Belmont and not much was made of it. This year, Baffert lost a horse [Inexcessivelygood] in the Jim Beam, and it was no big deal. [Nick] Zito ran a 60-1 shot in the Preakness and he got beat by a Robert Perez horse [Hoxie], a guy everybody laughs at, and nothing was said. I don’t get it.”

Meantime, Sharp Cat and Marlin, who with $761,500 in purses this year have accounted for about 23% of the stable’s earnings, are returning to action, Marlin running Monday at Hollywood Park in the $400,000 Hollywood Turf Handicap and Sharp Cat scheduled to try the Acorn at Belmont next Saturday. Sharp Cat, disqualified from third to eighth in the Kentucky Oaks, the day before the Derby, will have a new rider, with Gary Stevens replacing Corey Nakatani.

At Los Alamitos, where he saddled a quarter horse for the first time since 1978, Lukas ran into another disqualification Friday night. While Sneaky Fast, at 68-1, was winning the $221,090 Kindergarten Futurity, Sir Ryon, a 2- year-old colt that Lukas recently bought, finished fifth. Then, because of interference, the stewards moved Sir Ryon to last place in the 10-horse field.

Horse Racing Notes

Touch Gold, fourth in the Preakness, has been galloping at Belmont Park to test his injured left front hoof. “There was no blood in the foot,” trainer David Hofmans said. “That’s a good sign. We’ll patch him up Sunday. He’s strong and sound and it looks very promising that he’ll run in the Belmont.” Touch Gold tore the skin off his left front foot when his nose hit the ground and he almost fell leaving the gate at Pimlico. . . . There’s a growing list of horses that may challenge Silver Charm in the Belmont. The Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner can expect to face Touch Gold, Wild Rush, Free House and Crypto Star, and they may be joined by Irish Silence, who couldn’t beat New York-breds in his last start, and at least two horses from the stable of the ubiquitous Robert Perez. . . . Famous Digger, a $40,000 claim by trainer Barry Abrams when she ran for Richard Mandella in January, won the $109,100 Honeymoon Handicap by 3 1/2 lengths at Hollywood Park Saturday and paid $51.20. Famous Digger, ridden by Brice Blanc, was one of three longshots that contributed to a three-day carryover of $614,707.31 in the Pick Six.