My prayers are with the family and friends . Surprising news as he was still getting on horses in the morning and looked fine on TV.
Man it sucks getting old. Being around 50 years old, he has been a part of my racing experience the whole time and will be kind of weird without him.
https://paulickreport.com/news/people/d-wayne-lukas-hospitalized-will-not-return-to-training
Surprising turn of events. He sure seemed fit the 1st Saturday in May, albeit 89 years old.
Doesn\'t sound like they expect him to overcome whatever is ailing him. Very disappointed to hear that.
Roman- for those of us who will turn 80 before year’s end, what sucks is not having the opportunity to get old. CARPE DIEM!
OK, not being able to get old sucks more than getting really old.
Ironic that his last classic winner is named Seize the Gray. Carpe Diem!
Many folks may not know that DWL & Bobby Knight were good buddies. At The Preakness - my company sponsored it for several years - I had the great opportunity to chat with him at the Friday night party, always held during an Orioles game overlooking the outfield.
The Coach was not a drinker, unlike yours truly. He preferred a good ice cream cone. I shared with him that I\'d met Coach Knight, and asked if it was true he and Kinght were friends. I\'d been to a function Knight spoke a year or two prior) & that Knight said he\'d taught DWL everything he knew about basketball (both disciples of Pete Newell) & it obviously carried over to training horses! DWL smiled a big grin & said \"if you ever see Bob again, tell him to get a horse and see how he does with it!\"
You\'ll get a kick out of this short video of them both:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GD365dXPmaU
Great Story. Wayne was the best and ego or confidence was never in short supply. Look up the word \"Survivor\" in the dictionary and you will see a picture of Wayne.
I have several stories but one with humor was one year before the Kentucky Oaks I was in the Paddock chatting with Wayne when up walks Ronnie Eubanks (long time Jockey Agent) with Poker Celebrity Phil Helmuth. Introductions were made and then out of nowhere Helmuth declares \"just so everyone here knows who I am, I am the only person to win 7 World Series of Poker Bracelets\"
Wayne replies well this next race coming up I have won it 4 times and that little race tomorrow, the Kentucky Derby, I have won it 4 times so you can GTFOOH\". Everyone started cracking up.
Wayne then stated \"I was leading my horse over today and some woman screamed out of the stands \"Wayne will you Marry Me\". Eubanks relied \"well have you two set a date? Because that\'s all it ever took before\"......mic drop