Lukas seeking pot of gold with Dublin

It was shocking to find out this summer that Hopeful winner Dublin was the first Grade 1 winner for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas since Folklore in 2005. Had it really been that long between big scores for the most dominant trainer of the past 50 years?

You look at the man’s career accomplishments in list form, and they are an embarrassment of riches — four Kentucky Derbys, five Preaknesses, four Belmonts, more champions than most trainers have stakes winners — and, yet, in recent years he appeared more of a presence than genuine force.

At 74, Lukas has mellowed like smooth Kentucky bourbon. While still a great raconteur, he used to be a far fierier competitor. It’s tempting to see him as the lion in winter, but with a handful of eager new owners and some old reliables who never lost the faith, Lukas is reinvigorated and his barn has been clicking.
Much of that has to do with Dublin, who runs Saturday in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes and has Lukas dreaming again of a blanket of roses in May.

This makes us like Dublin a lot. No one is a better source of great stories around Triple Crown time than Lukas. Even when he doesn’t have a horse in the series, he is the go-to guy on the backstretch for the best quotes.

Picture the coverage racing would receive with Lukas in the mix with a top-shelf 3-year-old. It would be a better comeback story than Michael Jordan’s. Picture him in New York for the Belmont Stakes with a chance to win the Triple Crown. Lukas has that kind of feel about Dublin, and, even in October, it gets the blood flowing.

“This is what all of us are in the profession for — to have a nice 2-year-old,” Lukas said this week of Dublin. “This is what makes you enjoy the sport so much, the speculation that you may have “the one.”

What more reason would any racing fan need to tune in tomorrow to the Champagne?