D. Wayne Lukas hospitalized, won’t return to training horses

Louisville, Ky. – Horse racing coach of the renown temple D. Wayne Lukas has been hospitalized and will not return to training, announced Churchill Downs after talking with family members.

Lukas’ family said that the 89 -year -old was fighting a serious infection that has worsened and that he refused an aggressive treatment plan to go home. His horses were transferred to the assistant coach Sebastian “low” Nicholl.

“Wayne has built a legacy that will never be equaled,” said Nicholl. “Each decision I make, every horse I saddle, I will hear his voice in my mind. It is not a question of filling his shoes – no one can. It is a question of honoring everything he has built.”

Lukas is one of the most accomplished people in the history of sport. His 15 triple Crown victories are second behind behind the good friend Bob Baffert, and Lukas has a record of 20 in the Breeders Cup.

He won the Kentucky Derby four times since 1988. His last victory in the Triple Crown came last year with Speed ​​The Gray in Preakness, his seventh – a short recupert record.

“Wayne is one of the biggest competitors and the most important personalities in the history of thoroughbreds,” said Churchill Downs president Mike Anderson. “He transcended the sport of horse racing and brought the industry to new levels. The lasting impact of his character and his wisdom, from his acute range to his unequaled attention to detail, will be really missed. The enormity of this news is immense, and our prayers are with his family and friends throughout the world during this difficult period.”

Lukas is affectionately known in the barns and the racetrack as a “coach” because he led to basketball in high school before the start of his professional career with horses. Even with months to do before his 90th birthday, he rose to his pony early in the morning and himself went on the track, rather than letting his assistants do daily work.

Born Darnell Wayne Lukas on September 2, 1935 in Wisconsin as the second of the three children, he took importance in sport with quarters of horses in races that are actually sprints. He moved into thoroughbreds in the late 1970s and won his first Preakness with Codex in 1980.

Lukas won 4,967 documented victories in a thoroughbred race, his horses earning more than $ 310 million on more than 30,600 departures.