Oaklawn Barn Notes: Hall of Fame Trainer D. Wayne Lukas Back in the Saddle

by Robert Yates

Hall of Fame Trainer D. Wayne Lukas Back in the Saddle

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas returned to his normal routine during training hours Thursday morning at Oaklawn, atop a stable pony and escorting his horses to and from the track. Lukas, 87, was working, at least in this capacity, for the first time since breaking five ribs after he was bucked off a stable pony during training hours in early December at Oaklawn.

“I’m sore,” Lukas said Thursday morning in his barn office. “I’m OK if I don’t move.”

Lukas said the injury occurred at his barn when he climbed aboard a different pony, and it was spooked.

“I thought I was John Wayne,” Lukas said. “He jumped forward and when he jumped forward, I had spurs on, so I gripped him with my legs, obviously, trying to stay on him. I spurred him and then the wreck was on. I spurred him every jump after that. It happened right out in front of here. Everybody’s standing there watching.”

Moving from his training chart to a rib chart, Lukas said he “broke” 2, 5, 6, 7 and 8 and “cracked” 9, 10 and 11. Lukas said he was sent to the emergency room at nearby CHI St. Vincent Hot Springs for treatment. Lukas joked about the experience and shunning hospitalization.

“They were going to keep me, but I walked out,” Lukas said. “They had 40, 50 people in emergency. I sat there four hours. The doctor said they (ribs) were pretty badly broken, the ones that were broken. He said it would take about 30 minutes to get a bed ready. I said, ‘You don’t need to get a bed ready for me, you’ve got people out here dying right here in front of you.’ I said, ‘Why don’t you go out there and get one of those 40 that have been there for two days camping out and give them the bed.’ I said, ‘You give them my bed.’ ”

Lukas’ accident occurred a little less than a year after he was hospitalized at CHI St. Vincent for internal bleeding.

“I’m wondering if Arkansas is for me,” Lukas said. “I love it here, but I don’t like to get banged up when I get here. Internal bleeding was a little worse. I don’t know, though. Boy, I was a sore son of a b**** for the first couple of days (after breaking five ribs). I still am.”

Notorious for dedication to his craft, Lukas returned to ponying horses last season at Oaklawn after being hospitalized. He said it was more business as usual this December.

“I didn’t miss any days working,” Lukas said. “I drove over to the front side and trained from there, drove back and forth.”

Lukas, who annually winters in Hot Springs, is the ninth-winningest trainer in Oaklawn history with 337 victories entering Friday. He was Oaklawn’s leading trainer in 1987 and 2011.

Lukas 40-horse stable in 2022-2023 boasts more quality and quantity than past years. It is headed by multiple Oaklawn stakes winner and 2022 Kentucky Oaks champion Secret Oath. She is scheduled to make her 2023 debut in the $350,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) March 11 at Oaklawn, Lukas said. The Azeri is for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles.

Apple of His Eye

He’s never run, but he already stands out.

Along with living legend Chindi, Black Apple may be the whitest horse on the Oaklawn backside this season. The son of Double Irish, listed gray/roan, is scheduled to make his career debut in Saturday’s fifth race for trainer John Ortiz and John Ed Anthony, the Arkansas lumberman who became Oaklawn’s all-time winningest owner during the 2021-2022 meeting. Saturday’s fifth race is a maiden special weight sprint for Arkansas-breds and part of the first card in Oaklawn history exclusively for 2-year-olds.

“I have never had a horse as white as him throughout my entire career on the backside,” said Ortiz, who was Oaklawn’s co-fourth-leading trainer last year. “My son loves unicorns and I showed him a picture of Black Apple and he goes, ‘Oh, dad, is that a unicorn?’ I said, ‘Yeah, we sure do have a unicorn.’ I hope he’s as magical as he thinks he is.”

Ortiz and Anthony teamed to win four stakes last season at Oaklawn with Arkansas-breds Whelen Springs, The Mary Rose and Gar Hole. Black Apple (5-1 on the morning line) is scheduled to break from post 3 under eight-time Oaklawn riding champion Ricardo Santana Jr. The colt has four local workouts leading up to his career debut, the last a half-mile move in :49.40 Dec. 12.

“Very beautiful horse,” Ortiz said. “I think he’s very talented, obviously. If he wasn’t, I wouldn’t have brought him over. We’ve had high hopes for him. He’s been very straightforward. We’re very familiar with the breeding.”

Like many of Anthony’s horses, Black Apple is an Arkansas-themed name and not a tricky twist on his color. The black apple is native to the Ozark Mountains, according to the Encyclopedia of Arkansas. Anthony stands Double Irish, an unraced 11-year-old gray/roan son of super sire Tapit, at McDowell Farm in Sparkman, Ark., roughly 60 miles south of Hot Springs.

“To tell you the darn truth, I was more than likely not thinking of his color whenever I named him,” Anthony said with a laugh. “Double Irishes have the tendency to either be white or turn white, but he certainly is a white colt. Everybody knows it’s an apple and it is Arkansas, so that’s what I was focusing on.”

The snow white Chindi, 28, has been the longtime stable pony of trainer Steve Hobby of Hot Springs after earning more than $1 million on the track.

Finish Lines

Owner Lewis Mathews of Bismarck, Ark., entered Friday with 99 career victories, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization. Mathews had three horses entered this weekend at Oaklawn – one Friday and two Saturday, including Fabulous Candy in the $150,000 Year’s End Stakes for 2-year-old fillies. “I think I’ve got 49, too, so we’re right there together (for a milestone),” Chelsey Moysey, who trains the three horses, said Thursday morning. Best known for campaigning millionaire multiple stakes-winning sprinter Ivan Fallunovalot, Mathews entered Friday with 36 career victories at Oaklawn, the first coming March 19, 2005. It was his second victory overall. Ivan Fallunovalot won Oaklawn’s $100,000 King Cotton Stakes for older sprinters in 2015 and 2016. … Millionaire multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Last Samurai has been invited to the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) for older horses at 1 1/8 miles Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Thursday morning. Last Samurai won the $150,000 Poinsettia Stakes and $1 million Oaklawn Handicap (G2) last season at Oaklawn for trainer Dallas Stewart. Last Samurai finished second, beaten a neck, in the $200,000 Tinsel Stakes Dec. 17 at Oaklawn for Lukas, who began training the 4-year-old son of Malibu Moon last summer. “They invited him, so I want to look at it and see what the lineup is,” Lukas said. “My first choice would be to stay in Hot Springs, here.” Among Oaklawn’s biggest two-turn races for older horses is the $600,000 Razorback Handicap (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 18. Last Samurai worked 5 furlongs in 1:02.20 over a fast track Thursday morning at Oaklawn. Tinsel winner Bal Harbour is pointing for the Razorback, trainer Robertino Diodoro said. … Dash Attack, winner of the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes for 3-year-olds last season at Oaklawn, is scheduled to resume training after Jan. 1 in Florida, trainer Kenny McPeek said Wednesday afternoon. Dash Attack (ankle) hasn’t started since winning the $100,000 Long Branch Stakes May 14 at Monmouth Park. McPeek said he’s targeting a spring return for Dash Attack, who won his career debut last December at Oaklawn. … “Oaklawn Raceday,” featuring David Longinotti, director of Oaklawn Anywhere, and Equibase representative Jeff Taylor, can be heard Saturdays 11 a.m.-11:30 a.m. (Central) during the 2022-2023 meeting on Little Rock, Ark., radio station KABZ-FM 103.7 and www.1037thebuzz.com. Trainer Tom Swearingen is this week’s special guest.