Lukas is back at Breeders' Cup
For The Associated Press
ARCADIA, Calif. -- D. Wayne Lukas is back, and feeling good about his chances in the Breeders' Cup after a one-year absence.
Lukas, the all-time leading trainer in the season-ending championships, did not have a runner last year for the first time since the event started in 1984.
With a record 18 victories and $19.6 million in purses in the Breeders' Cup, Lukas returns with Be Smart in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies on Friday and Ninth Client in the $1 million Juvenile Turf on Saturday.
Missing out last year was a stinging blow.
"I want to play at the top, especially at this point in my career," said the 73-year-old Hall of Famer. "We all want to be in this arena, if we can."
Bob Lewis and Bill Young, two of Lukas' biggest owners, died in recent years, forcing Lukas to downsize his once dominant coast-to-coast stable. He pulled out of California six years ago, consolidating in New York, Kentucky and Arkansas.
Tuesday was a homecoming as Lukas returned to Santa Anita, once the base of his operation and the site of this year's Breeders' Cup. He spent much of the morning greeting old friends he had not seen in a long time.
"Walking through here this morning has been gratifying to see a lot of people I haven't seen in years," Lukas said. "Driving here from the airport in the traffic and the smog, I don't miss that part."
As for the Breeders' Cup, Lukas is very high on Be Smart in the Juvenile Fillies, a race he has won five times.
After winning her debut race, Be Smart stepped up to finish second in Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland.
"We jumped her from the shallow to the deep end of the pool," Lukas said. "She's a very talented filly. I've had some good fillies in the past and I've been able to get lucky in this series."
Ninth Client has one win in four starts.
"I couldn't be more pleased with where I am with these horses at this point," Lukas said.
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OLYMPIC SALUTE: The Breeders' Cup will salute four female U.S. Olympic stars on Friday as part of the first "Ladies Day".
In a change in format, the Breeders' Cup will consolidate the five races for fillies and mares on one card.
The honorees are Candace Parker of the WNBA's Los Angeles Sparks, a forward on the gold medal-winning basketball team in Beijing; Misty May-Treanor, a two-time gold medalist in volleyball; and two members of the silver medal-winning softball team, Jennie Finch and Crystal Bustos.
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TRAFFIC JAM: What happens when you take dozens and dozens of horses -- many of them getting their first real look at Santa Anita -- and try sending them to the paddock to get a feel for things? A traffic jam that looks like something out of Los Angeles' notoriously gridlocked freeway system.
Many grooms waited patiently -- and some of their horses not so calmly -- during a busy Tuesday morning in the paddock. Horses went through Santa Anita's stately paddock in groups of 10-to-15 and the close quarters unnerved some. Several horses bucked and kicked as they were led, causing some of their counterparts to do the same.
The horses better get used to it. There are large fields for almost all of the Breeders' Cups races. Add in the big crowds expected, it will be a noisy and chaotic weekend.
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AP Sports Writer Will Graves contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press
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