Notes on a Scorecard - March 5, 1991

A trainer is to a thoroughbred what a coach is to a football player and what a director is to an actor. . . .

That means Darrell Wayne Lukas is probably the most important two-legged participant in horse racing today. . . .

He has won more purse money than any other North American trainer for eight consecutive years. His horses have won the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness and 10 Breeders’ Cup races. He has won three Eclipse Awards. . . .

But Lukas, 55, has never won the most prestigious race in Southern California, an oversight that should be corrected Saturday when Farma Way goes to the post as the favorite in the $1-million Santa Anita Handicap. . . .

The closest Lukas has come to winning the Big Cap was last year when Criminal Type, the horse of the year, finished second to the front-running Ruhlmann. . . .

Lukas’ detractors say he wins championships simply because he trains the most expensive horses with the most natural ability. But Farma Way won only two of 10 races for the respected Neil Boyce before being switched to Lukas’ barn. He has since won an allowance race and three consecutive Grade II stakes after finishing fourth in a sprint tuneup on the turf. . . .

“Actually, I think I did my best job training Criminal Type,” Lukas said. “He was a real challenge. He liked to match wits with you. You had to let him beat the ears off everybody in the morning, just like some boxers in sparring sessions. Farma Way is much easier to train.” . . .

Born and raised in Wisconsin and now a resident of Arcadia, Lukas is a former high school and college basketball coach who speaks every year to his friend Bob Knight’s Indiana team. . . .

Lukas on horses: “You have to get inside their heads. They’re creatures of habit, both good and bad. You wouldn’t think so. You have images of them running loose in a pasture, but they like to be regimented. They feel comfortable doing the same thing every day at the same time. We’re offered Pinkertons at the Kentucky Derby, but I don’t let them near our horses. That would be a change.” . . .

About the only thing Criminal Type and Farma Way have in common is that they are winners. Farma Way is a nifty sort who can accelerate quickly and put away the field. Criminal Type wore down his opponents. . . .

Gary Stevens, who beat Criminal Type with Ruhlmann, will be aboard Farma Way Saturday. . . .

Lukas’ horses set the record of $17,842,358 in earnings in 1988 and a trainer’s share of the purse is 10%. But more than 80% of Lucas’ share goes to his 293 employees. The revenue-sharing program includes everyone from assistant trainers to secretaries. . . .

Lukas makes most of his money on yearling sales and stud fees. He receives 5% of the purchase price of the yearlings he buys for others. . . .

He wept openly after his great filly, Landaluce, died Nov. 28, 1982. Lukas said she was even better than Winning Colors, his filly who won the 1988 Kentucky Derby. He hasn’t gotten as close to his horses since Landaluce’s death. . . .

Lukas says females must have three things going for them to be able to compete successfully against males: 1. Natural speed on or about the lead. 2. Physical stature. Winning Colors outweighed every one of her opponents in the Kentucky Derby. 3. Absolute dominance in the filly or mare division. . . .

“Grooms mean more to a horse than any other individuals do,” Lukas said. “They’re like a mother to her child. A trainer is like a teacher.” . . .

At last count, Lukas had 155 horses in training--34 in New York, 33 at Hollywood Park, 32 at Santa Anita, 30 in Arkansas, and 26 in Florida. . . .

Lukas has not had a vacation in 15 years. He gets up at 3 o’clock every morning. He says the only day he hasn’t visited a barn in the past 15 years was when he underwent back surgery. . . .

“Horse racing is such a challenge,” he says. “It’s like coaching, except that you have thousands of games every year. I don’t think I’ll ever retire.” . . .

The Pacers might have overtaken the Hoosiers as the best basketball team in Indiana. . . .

Over the weekend at Ojai, the first question most senior tour golfers asked after finishing their round: “How’s Jack doing at Doral?” . . .

I got goose pimples listening to a tape of Don Dunphy calling the first Joe Frazier-Jimmy Ellis fight in 1970 on the “Costas Coast to Coast” radio show Sunday. Dunphy will always be remembered as the last of the great radio fight broadcasters. . . .

The odds favoring Virgil Hill over Thomas Hearns are in inverse proportion to the purses they will receive. . . .

Said Chick Hearn after Denver took a 32-29 lead over the Lakers in the first quarter last Thursday: “It’s nervous time.”