D. Wayne Lukas
Darrell Wayne Lukas (born September 2, 1935 in Antigo, Wisconsin) is a former educator who became one of the most successful horse trainers in American Thoroughbred horse racing history and a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee.
Lukas graduated from the University of Wisconsin–Madison with a master's degree in education then taught high school where for nine years he was a head basketball coach.
Born and raised on a small farm, D. Wayne Lukas grew up with an interest in horses. He began training quarter horses in California in 1968 and after ten years of considerable achievement that saw him train 24 world champions, he switched to training thoroughbred race horses. The first trainer to earn more than $100 million in purse money, he has been the year's top money winner 14 times. Lukas got his big break in 1980 when he won the Preakness Stakes on Codex. His horses have won the Kentucky Derby four times, the Preakness Stakes on six occasions, and have claimed victory four times in the Belmont Stakes, including winning all three of the Classics in 1995 with Thunder Gulch (Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes) and Timber Country (Preakness), making him the first trainer to sweep the Triple Crown Classic races with two different horses in a season. In 2013, he surpassed Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons for the most Triple Crown race victories with 14.
Fillies Lukas has trained have won the Kentucky Oaks four times and in addition his 19 Breeders' Cup wins is more than any other trainer. Three of his horses—Lady's Secret in 1986, Criminal Type in 1990 and Charismatic in 1999—won the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year.
D. Wayne Lukas has won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer four times. In 1999, the same year his horse Charismatic came within 2 lengths of the Triple Crown, he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
In March 2007, Lukas was inducted into the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame,[1] becoming the first person to enter both the Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse halls of fame.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ American Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame - D. Wayne Lukas accessed on February 4, 2008
- DeVito, Carlo. D. Wayne : The High-Rolling and Fast Times of America's Premier Horse Trainer (2002) McGraw-Hill ISBN 0-07-138737-4
- D. Wayne Lukas at the United States National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
- American Quarter Horse Association Hall of Fame - D. Wayne Lukas accessed on February 4, 2008
- D. Wayne Lukas at the NTRA
