D. Wayne Lukas
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Darrell Wayne Lukas (born September 2, 1935 in Antigo, Wisconsin) is an American Hall of Fame Thoroughbred race horse trainer.
Lukas began training quarter horses in California in 1968 and after ten years of considerable achievement that saw him train 23 world champions, he switched to training thoroughbred race horses where he has become one of the most successful in history. The first trainer to earn more than $100 million in purse money, he has been the year's top money winner 14 times.
His horses have won the Kentucky Derby four times, the Preakness Stakes on five occasions, and have claimed victory four times in the Belmont Stakes, including the unique 1995 Triple Crown where Lukas-trained horses Thunder Gulch (Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes) and Timber Country (Preakness) won the three races, making him the first trainer to sweep the Triple Crown with two different horses in a season, which to the former basketball coach was akin to winning a state championship with two different sets of starting players. Fillies he has trained have won the Kentucky Oaks four times and in addition his 18 Breeders' Cup wins is more than any other trainer. Two of his horses, Lady's Secret in 1988 and Criminal Type in 1990, won the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year honors.
D. Wayne Lukas has won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer four times. In 1999, the same year his horse Charismatic came within a furlong of the Triple Crown, he was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. His parents came from Czech. He is known for his trademark sunglasses.
[edit] References
- DeVito, Carlo. D. Wayne : The High-Rolling and Fast Times of America's Premier Horse Trainer (2002) McGraw-Hill ISBN 0071387374
- D. Wayne Lukas at the United States National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame
