D. Wayne Lukas, one of the most successful trainers in the history of thoroughbred horse racing, has died. He was 89. Lukas' family announced on Sunday that he had died at home Saturday night in Louisville. The Hall of Famer had entered hospice care after being hospitalized for a severe MRSA blood infection last week, CBS Sports reports. "Wayne devoted his life not only to horses but to the industry—developing generations of horsemen and horsewomen and growing the game by inviting unsuspecting fans into the winner's circle," his family said in a statement, per the AP.
A leading face of the sport for decades, Lukas won 15 Triple Crown races, second only to Bob Baffert, including the Kentucky Derby four times. In total, per the Athletic, Lukas posted 4,987 documented thoroughbred race wins. He also shares the record with 20 Breeders' Cup victories. Lukas is the only trainer to have swept the Triple Crown in one year with three horses: Thunder Gulch at the Kentucky Derby, Timber Country at the Preakness Stakes, and Thunder Gulch at the Belmont Stakes, in 1995. In more than 30,600 starts, his horses' earnings topped $310 million. "He transcended the sport of horse racing and took the industry to new levels," Churchill Downs President Mike Anderson said shortly before Lukas' death.
"The whole secret of this game, I think, is being able to read the horse: Read what he needs, what he doesn't need, what he can't do, what he can do," Lukas said in May before his 34th and final Preakness Stakes, per the AP. "Everybody's got the blacksmith, everybody's got to the same bed available, the feed man. We all can hire a good jockey. We all can hire a pretty good exercise rider if we've got the means, so what the hell is the difference? The horse is the difference and what we do with him in reading him," he added.
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