Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas passed away Saturday at the age of 89, leaving a long and deep legacy on the global Thoroughbred industry. Coglianese Photo.

By Lynne Snierson/NYRA

The New York Racing Association, Inc. mourns the passing of legendary Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas at age 89, who passed away on Saturday evening after battling serious illness in recent weeks.

“D. Wayne Lukas’ vision and creativity transformed horse racing forever,” said David O’Rourke, NYRA president and chief executive officer. “He achieved success on a scale without precedent and developed a generation of trainers who continue to shape the future of the sport. New York’s racing community and fans will miss Wayne, and we look forward to celebrating his life and legacy this summer at Saratoga Race Course.”

New York is the biggest stage in the world and no one in the sport of thoroughbred racing has been a brighter star at Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course than Lukas.

Though recognized for his custom-made Italian suits, aviator sunglasses and an abundance of charisma, he is renowned and revered as the most innovative, influential and prolific trainer in history. For six decades, Lukas has been the dominant force in this sport which he revolutionized.

Before announcing his retirement on June 22 two months before his 90th birthday, “Coach” won 4,953 races and earned purses of $300,548,290. His 15 Triple Crown race victories are second only to fellow Hall of Famer and close friend Bob Baffert, and he long held the record for most Breeders’ Cups wins with 20 until Aidan O’Brien tied him last November. The four-time Eclipse Award-winner and four-time Kentucky Derby-winner trained 26 horses who won divisional championships and three of his charges attained the honor of Horse of the Year.

As a mentor and coach, Lukas leaves behind a long list of proteges, including fellow Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, Classic-winner Kiaran McLaughlin, as well as George Weaver, Mark Hennig, Ron Moquett, Mike Maker, Dallas Stewart and Randy Bradshaw.

Horses conditioned by the legendary Lukas won 222 Grade 1s, many of which were contested at NYRA tracks. He won outright or shared 16 leading trainer titles at Belmont and Saratoga in the 1980s and 1990s, and his trophy case holds the hardware from almost all the illustrious top-level races at Belmont and Saratoga. Even better, he took most of those Grade 1 events in New York more than once.

Count among his accomplishments four scores – and three straight – in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes at 1 1/2-miles at Belmont Park with Tabasco Cat [1994], Thunder Gulch [1995], Editor’s Note [1996] and Commendable [2000], and consider his trio of wins in the Grade 1 Travers at Saratoga with Corporate Report [1991], Thunder Gulch [1995], and Will Take Charge [2013].

Lukas, who is credited with changing the business model of horse racing, experienced some of his greatest achievements with his Belmont Stakes horses.

After taking the 1994 edition with Preakness winner Tabasco Cat – the colt who had trampled and nearly killed his only child and top assistant Jeff Lukas – in 1995, he planned to run Thunder Gulch. But the Kentucky Derby winner wasn’t his marquee player. That distinction went to stablemate and reigning Preakness winner Timber Country, who was installed as the heavy morning-line favorite once the pair was entered. But then Timber Country spiked a fever and was scratched the day before the Belmont.

Thunder Gulch rose to the occasion and was a two-length winner, and the victory gave Lukas a record fifth straight win in a Triple Crown race [to be extended to six straight when he took the 1996 Kentucky Derby with Grindstone].

“When we got down to one horse today, we knew we had to have it all on this little horse’s shoulders,” Lukas told the Washington Post. “I’m a little bit overwhelmed.”

In 1999, Lukas was on a hot streak with Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Charismatic, whom he had elevated from the claiming ranks earlier in the season. Dispatched as the 8-5 favorite in the field of 12, the colt was leading in the stretch, and it looked as though Lukas would be the first to train a Triple Crown winner since 1978. Shockingly, Charismatic suffered a fractured leg but he still finished third.

“He was a part of our career – a big part of it,” Lukas told Daily Racing Form when Charismatic died in 2017. “You don’t replace Derby winners very easy. I really loved that horse. I was very fond of him. He was a knockout looker. When you get one that’s such an overachiever – I really thought that he might end up in the claiming ranks his entire career and the next thing he’s going for the Triple Crown – it was just a joy to be around him.”

Lukas, who has a record of 26-4-1-1 in the Belmont, was back in 2000 with Commendable. His final Belmont win is arguably his best Triple Crown training job. Commendable not only had finished 17th in the Kentucky Derby, but he was also winless since his debut the previous August at Del Mar and in six successive starts had fared no better than fourth. Yet, in the “Test of the Champion” Lukas had him at his best, scoring the upset at 18-1.

“If any touch of greatness rubbed off on Commendable, it probably came through his trainer, D. Wayne Lukas,” Joe Durso wrote in the New York Times.

No praise was higher than that bestowed by Hall of Famer Bobby Frankel, who had sent out the runner-up and favored Aptitude. “Give Lukas credit. I don’t know how he did it,” Frankel said after the race.

Lukas defied the odds in the Travers as well. In 1991 Corporate Report had been unable to catch Strike the Gold in the Kentucky Derby or Hansel in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes, but he led all the way in the Mid-Summer Derby. After Thunder Gulch executed the Belmont-Travers double in 1995, it would be another 18 years before Lukas graced the Travers winner’s circle again. To get there, Coach called an audible for Will Take Charge, who had been beaten in all three 2013 Triple Crown races. He gave the mount to a young Luis Saez, and they pulled it off at 9-1.

“I changed up a few things. I took a chance on an up-and-coming young rider. You look terrible if it doesn’t work, but it’s sweet when it does,” Lukas, then 77, told Daily Racing Form’s Dave Grening. “It feels pretty good. It’s been a long time between drinks, but when they come like this they double.”

Lukas wouldn’t return to the Travers until 2018, when he saddled his final and 20th runner, Bravazo, to a third-place finish.

Another of Lukas’ Triple Crown competitors included New York-bred Grade 1 winner Victory Speech. A son of Deputy Minister out of the Alydar mare Ida’s Image, Victory Speech finished third in the Grade 3 Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park and third in the Grade 3 Jim Beam Stakes at Turfway Park before a 10th in the Kentucky Derby and fifth in the Preakness Stakes in 1996. He later won four stakes as a 3-year-old, including the Empire Classic Handicap at Aqueduct, and earned his Grade 1 victory in the 1997 Strub Stakes at Santa Anita Park. Victory Speech, who was bred by Robert Entenmann, earned New York-bred Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old male honors in 1996. He won nine of 27 starts and earned $1,289,020.

The Coach is the consummate horseman who has been a mentor, motivator, teacher, guide, influencer, inspiration, and most important, a friend to so many. His presence will forever loom large.

Multiple Grade 1 winning trainer Cherie DeVaux, who has been assigned Lukas’ former barn at Saratoga, summed it up best in a recent social media post.

“As I walked the shedrow this morning, I kept thinking about the horses that stood in these very stalls- champions whose names helped shape the sport. And then I sat in the office he left behind, at his desk, and stared at the empty chair. I wondered what he thought about in those quiet early hours. How many dreams began right there with a legal pad and a coffee?,” DeVaux wrote. “Wayne didn’t just train horses. He set a standard. He built a legacy that inspired generations, myself included. And while the tack room may bear a new name this summer, his spirit lingers in every inch of this place. Honored doesn’t begin to cover it. Grateful. Humbled. Inspired. We’ll do our best to honor what he built here – one horse, one morning, one moment at a time.”

Lukas’ Spa ledger includes a record number of wins in the Hopeful [8], Adirondack [7], Schuylerville [6], Spinaway [6, tied with Todd Pletcher], and H. Allen Jerkens Memorial, formerly the King’s Bishop [5]. However, when asked by NYRA’s press office in July 2024 to try and pick out a favorite Saratoga memory, he landed on the first-out maiden score by eventual Hall of Famer Winning Colors in August 1987.

“Any time you win one of these big stakes it’s a good memory. I think maybe it was Winning Colors breaking her maiden up here and going on to win the Kentucky Derby,” Lukas said. “I also remember one year up here I flew up and my son was running the barn and we had 13 individual Grade 1-winners in the barn. That was special.”

Lukas’s presence will be dearly missed by the sport, but his legacy will certainly live on.

Sunday Girl soars in turf debut, winning Sunday’s John Hettinger Stakes at Aqueduct. Coglianese Photo.

Sunday Girl made a winning return in her first start since March and a successful turf debut in Sunday’s $125,000 John Hettinger Stakes for fillies and mares at Aqueduct.

Katie Davis guided the 4-year-old daughter of Central Banker to the front just after the break and they stayed there throughout the 6-furlong stakes. Sunday Girl, off since winning the Correction Stakes against open company March 2 at Aqueduct, won by 2 1/4 lengths over Silver Skillet for her fourth straight victory. Loon Cry, the even-money favorite in the field of seven, finished third. Sunday Girl won in 1:07.76 over the firm turf.

“That was a whole lot of fun,” said David Duggan, who trains the filly for owners Mitre Box Stable, Clear Stars Stable and Eight Note Stable. “I was concerned [about the turf debut]. We had breezed her on it at Saratoga and she got over it fine, but when you get into a competitive level like this, it’s a concern without having tried it.

“I knew we were going to be close to the pace but being given an easy lead like that, I didn’t think that was going to happen. It was fantastic.”

Sent off as the 5-2 third choice, Sunday Girl led Cara’s Time up the backstretch to the opening quarter-mile in :23.04 with Silver Skillet and Sinead tracking in third and fourth.

Cara’s Time got within a half-length entering the far turn as Silver Skilled angled to the outside to make a run. Sunday Girl responded to the immediate challenges, edging clear by 1 1/2 lengths after a half in :45.34. Sunday Girl spurted clear in the stretch and opened up 4 lengths in midstretch, past 5 furlongs in :56.21.

Davis stayed busy on Sunday Girl in the lane and she finished well clear of the runner-up and 5-2 second choice. Silver Skillet edged Loon Cry by 1 1/2 lengths for the place spot with Cara’s Time fourth. Soloshot, Sugar Bee and Sinead completed the field.

“I know the filly very well. They’ve done a wonderful job with her,” Davis said. “The question was, will she like the grass? They breezed her over it once, and said she did not look horrible, but she was green. Today, she came out of the gate and went nicely on the lead, down the backside, I knew I had it. She just floated over the turf. I’m happy she liked the turf because now we have more places to go.”

Sunday Girl commanded the top price for a New York-bred in the open portion of the 2022 OBS October yearling sale on a bid of $43,000 from Kathryn Martin. Mitre Box Stables purchased her for $100,000 about seven months later at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic May sale, out of the de Meric Sales consignment.

Bred by McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds LLC and Spruce Lane Farm and foaled at McMahon of Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, Sunday Girl is out of the winning Harlan’s Holiday mare Lady Daphne.

Sunday Girl is a half-sister to Lady Jasmine, a New York-bred daughter of Cairo Prince also bred by McMahon and Spruce Lane who won her debut in 2022 at Saratoga Race Course. She’s won two of 19 starts with two other placings and earned $103,146. Lady Daphne is also the dam of the winning New York-bred Laoban mare Proper Grammar.

Lady Daphne was purchased by McMahon of Saratoga for $17,000 at the 2016 Keeneland November breeding stock sale. She’s also the dam of the 3-year-old Solomini colt Brimsley and a 2-year-old New York-bred full sibling to Sunday Girl named Sunday Boy, who sold for $65,000 at the OBS March sale of 2-year-olds in training. Sunday Boy breezed a half-mile in :49.50 Saturday on the Belmont Park training track, his third official workout since the OBS sale. McMahon and Spruce Lane also bred a yearling full brother to Sunday Girl, foaled May 4, 2024.

Central Banker, a 15-year-old son of Speightstown, stands for $7,500 at McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds in Saratoga Springs. He’s topped the New York general sire list the last four seasons, including in 2024 with progeny earnings of $5,436,573.

Sunday Girl, winner of the Park Avenue division of the New York Stallion Series Stakes as a 3-year-old, improved to 7-for-9 and boosted her bankroll to $463,738.

“It’s huge,” Duggan said of the importance of having a filly like Sunday Girl in the barn. “How hard are these to find? For us, it’s extra special to have one like this. She’s a lot of fun.”

Mo Plex storms to victory in the Ohio Derby at Thistledown. JJ Zamaiko Photography

By Alec DiConza

Trainer Jeremiah Englehart will fondly remember the seven-hour road trip he took from Saratoga Springs, N.Y., to Thistledown Race Track in North Randall, Ohio this weekend. He spent time with his family and members of his team while improving his record at Thistledown to 1-for-1 when 3-year-old colt Mo Plex won the Grade 3 $500,000 Ohio Derby Saturday.

“I brought my son Eli,” Englehart said Saturday evening. “He didn’t have any baseball or lacrosse this weekend, so we started the drive yesterday, stayed at my parents’ house in Finger Lakes and then finished the drive this morning. Now, we’re headed back to my parents’ house tonight.”

When Mo Plex broke far behind the field in the Ohio Derby, Englehart felt like his race was already finished. The son of Complexity had primarily run on or near the lead in his seven prior starts, and the slow beginning meant Mo Plex would have to make up ground in a race where he already faced the task of running around two turns for the first time. However, none of these challenges stopped Mo Plex and jockey Joe Ramos from coming home a 2-length winner in the 9-furlong contest for 3-year-olds.

“I was definitely thinking that his race might have been lost right there,” Englehart said about the break. “I thought in the Champagne, we kind of rated him a little bit more than I would’ve wanted and it was more so just tactics than anything. I kind of learned from that race. I’d rather just see him take a nice long hold and let him do his thing, and that’s what Joe did today. It worked out well, but it definitely was not a good start and I was thinking ‘Well, this is going to blow up in my face now,’ because if he can’t handle the distance, he’s really going to get short because he just had to make up 5 or 6 lengths from the start to the first turn.”

Mo Plex quickly passed horses to race second heading into the first turn and sat just outside stakes winner Clever Again through fractions of :23.42 and :47.75. Ramos started asking Mo Plex for a kick rounding the far turn, and the colt responded by taking the lead entering the stretch. Kentucky Derby runner Chunk Of Gold tried to rally, but Mo Plex had too much left. He finished 2 lengths ahead of Chunk Of Gold in 1:50.72 for owner R and H Stable, run by Rick Higgins and Howard Read. The victory marked the fourth stakes win and the second graded stakes win in Mo Plex’s career.

Englehart planned to run Mo Plex in the Mike Lee at Saratoga Race Course June 4, but was forced to scratch when a case of strangles, a contagious respiratory infection, broke out in Englehart’s barn just before the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival and forced a 14-day quarantine. That challenged Englehart to look for a different race, and he thought outside the box. He shipped Mo Plex to Thistledown Thursday, trained him Friday and then sent him out to a victory Saturday.

“From a timing standpoint, it (the Ohio Derby) was probably my best dated race where if he didn’t handle the distance, I could do some other things. If he did handle the distance and ran well, we could do other things in his next start. It worked out really well,” Englehart said. “Joe gave him a phenomenal ride. He shipped great. Bill Mott won the race last year (with Batten Down) and I was asking him up in Saratoga how he shipped his horse out and what he did. I did the exact same thing. When he speaks, you listen. So, we did the exact same thing that he did and it worked out great.”

The jump to 9 furlongs going two turns presented a concern for Englehart, but he felt confident that Mo Plex would run his race. Before Saturday, the longest race Mo Plex had competed in was a one-turn mile.

“We always thought he could do the distance, but you never know until you try,” Englehart said. “He ran like I thought he could at the distance and I’m just glad that it worked out the way it did.”

After the change of plans, the longer distance and the poor start, Mo Plex delivered a performance to be proud of. 

“I’ve been proud of this horse since day one,” Englehart said. “He’s a pleasure to be around. Rick and Howard, they’re amazing people that have given me the opportunity to train for them. We’ve actually made a pretty good team, Howard, Rick and myself in mapping these races out. This was the one monkey wrench that was kind of thrown into it. They had the confidence to believe in me that this might be the right spot, and I’m glad they did. Mo made us all look good, really.”

While Englehart started driving home quickly after the Ohio Derby, he said he got the opportunity to hug Mo Plex’s groom as well as his exercise rider, who made the trip to Thistledown. He also said he’d be making many calls to family and his assistant when he got back to his parents’ house.

“We’re going to watch the race over and over again,” he laughed.

Mo Plex won his first three starts as a 2-year-old – a New York-bred maiden at Aqueduct in June, the Grade 2 Sanford Stakes at Saratoga in July and the Funny Cide Stakes for New York-breds) at Saratoga in August – before a third in the Grade 1 Champagne and a second in the state-bred Sleepy Hollow. The bay colt opened 2025 with a third in the Gander in March before winning the Bay Shore in April and the Ohio Derby. He has won five of eight lifetime starts with a bankroll of $745,000, second to Grade 1 winner Ria Antonia on Englehart’s list of earners.

Bred by Everything’s Cricket Racing, Mo Plex did not meet his reserve at Fasig-Tipton’s New York-bred yearling sale in 2023, but joined R and H on a $45,000 bid by Legion Bloodstock for Englehart’s JCE Racing at the OBS April sale as a 2-year-old. His dam, the unraced New York-bred Mo Joy produced a Maximus Mischief colt in 2023 and an Independence Hall colt this year. 

NOTES: New York-breds Mi Bago and Out On Bail might finally get a chance to compete in Friday’s Grade 3 Penn Mile Stakes at Penn National Race Course. The $400,000 stakes originally scheduled for May 30 wound up rescheduled until June 20 because of wet weather then rescheduled again because of more forecasted rainfall. The Penn Mile goes as the sixth race Friday with post time set for 7:45 p.m. ET.  . . . Another New York-bred competing out of state, Tonka Warrior, also saw a potential stakes start shifted because of weather after Canterbury Park scrapped its Saturday card due to high temperatures. Tonka Warrior takes on five opponents in the $50,000 Brooks Fields Mile, the fourth race on the Canterbury Derby Day card at 7:40 p.m. ET. . . Lone Star Park hosts its Summer Turf Festival Saturday and a pair of New York-breds are entered – Banterra, a 5-year-old son of Practical Joke bred by Rhapsody Farm who runs in the $125,000 Chicken Fried Stakes at Lone Star Park, and Eye Witness, a 5-year-old son of City of Light bred by Anlyn Farms who runs in the $125,000 Grand Prairie Turf Sprint.

Team Mo Plex celebrates in the winner’s circle. JJ Zamaiko Photography

Friend Ofthe Devil heads to victory in Saturday’s Spectacular Bid division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series. Susie Raisher/NYRA photo

By Alec DiConza

It’s safe to say that the beginning of Friend Ofthe Devil’s career did not go as planned. The son of Honest Mischief finished eighth and ninth in his first two starts, on the dirt at Saratoga Race Course last summer.

Trainer Carlos Martin then made a switch to grass for Friend Ofthe Devil’s next race and was rewarded when the colt owned by Marc Holliday’s Blue Devil Racing Stable and Jerold Zaro won for fun by 6 1/4 lengths.

In the eight months since that maiden score, Friend Ofthe Devil has risen to the top of the New York-bred 3-year-old turf sprint division. He won his first stakes when dominating Saturday’s $145,500 Spectacular Bid division of the New York Stallion Stakes Series, a 6-furlong sprint for 3-year-old New York-breds on the outer turf at Aqueduct.

“He’s just a horse that always showed a lot of ability,” Martin said. “We were very disappointed in his first two races and things didn’t go right. It’s funny, Irad Ortiz said ‘Maybe he’ll be a turf horse,’ because he was disappointed after he rode him the second time. I talked to Marc (Holliday) after the race and said, ‘Irad said we have a turf horse here.’ I’m glad we got him on the turf.”

Friend Ofthe Devil contested the Spectacular Bid as the 1-5 favorite off a 6-furlong allowance win in April. Stablemate Dancing Bear broke quicker out of the gate, but that didn’t matter when Friend Ofthe Devil coasted to the lead on the inside and sprinted through a quarter-mile in :21.98 with a 1 1/2-length lead. The colt maintained that margin through the turn, and after a half-mile in :43.92 he spurted to an even bigger lead under Christopher Elliott and crossed the wire 4 lengths in front of runner-up River Of Time. I’m Due finished third, followed by Dancing Bear. Friend Ofthe Devil finished in 1:07.41, less than a second off the track record.

“Leaving there, he did hit the gate. He broke out a little bit, but after that he relaxed nice and was doing it easy,” Elliott said. “He’s a very classy horse. He’s a horse you can’t really take too much of a hold of because he’ll lug out. You have to let him do his thing, but he’s a talented young horse and I’m excited that I had the opportunity to ride him.”

Holliday said he was “thrilled” with his colt’s performance and praised the New York Racing Association for its New York-bred stakes program.

“NYRA has spent so much time and effort to support this program,” he said. “We want to have the best races, and we also want to have our New York-bred and New York-sired horses well represented. Honest Mischief has been a really honest sire, and he has some very nice horses out there. Friend Ofthe Devil is one of them. It’s a little extra satisfaction when you get into the winner’s circle with a horse like that.”

After three 6-furlong victories, Friend Ofthe Devil stretch to a mile for the Cab Calloway division of the New York Stallion Series in his next start.

“He looked great and I’m excited about maybe giving him an opportunity with a little more distance staying in the Stallion Series in the Cab Calloway – he was an old family friend, Cab Calloway,” Martin said of the legendary singer, band leader and racing fan. “Hopefully, if we can get him to cooperate and relax a little, a mile might be within his scope.”

Friend Ofthe Devil was bred by Laurel Least, Farview Farm and Robert Tugel. He sold for $37,000 as a weanling at the Fasig-Tipon fall mixed sale at Saratoga in 2022, and brought $145,000 as a yearling the following August at Saratoga. He is the third foal out of the unraced Bodemeister mare Fabuleux. The other foal to race is two-time winner Janssen, a son of Accelerate and an earner of $94,887.