The news that legendary American trainer D Wayne Lukas has been forced into immediate retirement, three months short of his 90th birthday, has prompted a flurry of tributes to one of the greatest horsemen of all time.
While Americans have come together to recognise an icon of their industry, Lukas’ significant contribution to the sport deserves global respect and appreciation outside the United States.
Lukas is in hospice care in Louisville after being struck down with a severe staph infection. It has exacerbated pre-existing conditions and, although he was offered an intense treatment plan, he has decided to instead make the most of his remaining time with his family.
His immediate retirement brought the curtain down on a career in which Lukas came to represent not just a traditional depiction of the American horseman but the entire American racing industry as a whole.
Lukas’ rarely used first name is Darrell but he is more widely known as “Coach” – a nod to his background as a high school basketball coach in Wisconsin, his training style which included many of the same facets of sports coaching and the remarkable tree of horsemen that emerged underneath him. Todd Pletcher, Kiaran McLaughlin, Dallas Stewart, Mike Maker and George Weaver are among the trainers who worked under him.
Lukas is one of only six trainers worldwide who have reached 200 Group or Grade 1 wins: he sits fifth overall with 222, behind Aidan O’Brien (425), Bob Baffert (272), Bart Cummings (246) and T J Smith (246). Pletcher (202) is the other to have reached 200, while Andre Fabre is on 198.
“Coach” is equal to O’Brien as the most successful trainer at the Breeders’ Cup with 20 wins. He swept the American Triple Crown in 1995, although with two different horses in Thunder Gulch and Timber Country, and his Grade 1 wins stretched from Codex’s Santa Anita Derby in March, 1980 to Seize The Grey’s Pennsylvania Derby in September last year.
He has had three American Horses of the Year – Lady’s Secret (1986), Criminal Type (1990) and Charismatic (1999) – and he was the first person to be entered into the American Halls of Fame in both thoroughbred and quarter horse racing.
More than his remarkable record, though, Lukas personifies the traditional American horseman. Images of Lukas on horseback in the lead-up to the Kentucky Derby or the Breeders’ Cup was one of the surest sights of morning works, a constant in an ever-changing world.
Similarly, Lukas in his signature cowboy hat is something that evokes tales of the wild west, the John Wayne of horse racing.
He is to American racing what Cummings was to Australia or Sir Henry Cecil was to Britain – the embodiment of an entire industry.
Lukas’ immediate retirement means his horses at his Churchill Downs base have already been transferred to his assistant, Sebastian “Bas” Nicholl.
On paper, Lukas – with his Midwestern drawl – could not be more different to Nicholl. The new stable head is a former British Army captain who was a tank commander during Operation Desert Storm.
However, many of Lukas’ past assistants described his operation as a “boot camp” with military precision. With that in mind, someone with a decorated record of military service may just be the perfect person to continue his tradition.
“Wayne built a legacy that will never be matched,” Nicholl said. “Every decision I make, every horse I saddle, I’ll hear his voice in the back of my mind. This isn’t about filling his shoes – no one can – it’s about honouring everything that he has built.”
Honouring Lukas’ legacy will be something that Americans – and hopefully global racing fans – will do in the weeks and months ahead. ∎
