Lukas’ Non-Claim to Fame

Two guys the Kentucky Derby forgot--the upstaged trainer Wayne Lukas and the sometimes-troubled jockey Chris Antley--combined with a weight-challenged, white-footed colt to pull off one of the biggest upsets in the history of the race Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Before a crowd of 151,051, second largest in Derby history, the 125th running went to Charismatic, the Lukas trainee who could have been bought for a relatively cheap $62,500 in a claiming race at Santa Anita on Feb. 11. Antley, whose occasionally brilliant career has been punctuated by drug trouble, weight trouble and burnout, rode Charismatic like a Rhodes scholar, keeping him wide and away from trouble that a 19-horse field can bring, and they had enough left to withstand Menifee’s desperate charge in the last sixteenth of a mile.

At the wire, Charismatic had a neck on Menifee and Pat Day, with Cat Thief giving Lukas a 1-3 day by finishing three-quarters of a length behind Menifee. Prime Timber finished fourth, beaten by two lengths and a neck.

Prime Timber and Bob Baffert’s other two horses, Excellent Meeting and General Challenge, were unable to give the trainer a record third consecutive Derby win.

The filly Excellent Meeting was nosed out by Prime Timber for fourth and General Challenge, the Santa Anita Derby winner, had a bumpy trip early and wound up 11th. Excellent Meeting and General Challenge, coupled in the betting, went off a mild 9-2 favorite--the largest odds ever for a Derby favorite--and became the 20th consecutive public choice to fall.

After Excellent Meeting, the order of finish was Kimberlite Pipe, Worldly Manner, K One King, Lemon Drop Kid, Answer Lively, General Challenge, Ecton Park, Desert Hero, Stephen Got Even, Valhol, First American, Adonis, Vicar and Three Ring. Of the $1,186,200 purse, Charismatic earned $886,200, a Derby record. The son of Summer Squall, the 1990 Preakness winner, and the Drone mare Bali Babe, Charismatic ran 1 1/4 miles in 2:03 1/5, the slowest fast-track time since Alysheba in 1987. Charismatic paid $64.60 for $2, the third-highest payoff for a Derby, and the biggest since Gallahadion returned $72.40 in 1940.

Lukas’ fourth Derby win moves him higher in the Derby record book. Ben Jones trained six Derby winners, but only one other trainer--Dick Thompson in the ‘20s and ‘30s--had four notches on his belt. Lukas had won the Derby in 1995 and 1996, but Baffert’s back-to-back feat the next two years turned Lukas into a second banana at Churchill Downs. Worse still, this Derby was preordained as a Baffert production, because he had three of the favorites and Lukas’ pair--the reformed claimer and Cat Thief, winless this year--weren’t given much of a chance.

Lukas, who has also won seven other Triple Crown races, won his latest Derby four days after the announcement that he had been voted into the Racing Hall of Fame.

“It would have been foolish of me to say before the race that Charismatic was going to win,” Lukas said. “But he was in a gray area with several horses, and I thought we had a chance. He had had a great 60 days [of training and racing] before today. This was one of my best training jobs--him and Grindstone [the 1996 Derby winner]--but until lately, I had misread this horse as much as I’ve ever misread one.”

Charismatic races for Bob and Beverly Lewis, the Newport Beach couple who won won the 1997 Derby with the Baffert-trained Silver Charm.

Before the Derby, Bob Lewis told the story of how Mike Mitchell, a sharp claiming trainer in Southern California, had failed to take the colt out of the February race. Mitchell, given four tickets worth $40 to some drag races at Pomona, told Lewis that he didn’t want claim away a horse from his benefactor.

Lukas said that he had thrown Charismatic into the claimer because the colt, winner of only one of nine starts, needed a confidence builder. Actually, Charismatic had run for a $62,500 claiming price once before, when he broke his maiden in his sixth start, at Hollywood Park last November. In February, Charismatic finished second, but was moved up to first after the winner was disqualified.

Derby winners that have raced in claiming races are not that common. The last former claimer to win a Derby was Dust Commander in 1970.

The most-raced horse in this Derby, Charismatic’s win was his fourth in 15 tries. He had even been tried on grass once, out of desperation. After a fourth-place finish, far back of General Challenge and Prime Timber, in the Santa Anita Derby, he ran one more time before Saturday, winning the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland on April 18 in a superb time. Lukas trained him hard since then, trying to guard against the horse getting to the Derby with a sagging middle.

“When we ran him for a tag,” Bob Lewis said, “we knew we were taking a chance, but we were thinking a little bit about paying a few feed bills.”

When the horses went into the gate for the race that day and there had been no claims, a relieved Lukas said to Lewis:

“I don’t think we should try this again.”

Charismatic, breaking from the No. 16 stall, was outside four horses going into the first turn. Clear of trouble down the backstretch, he was seventh after the first half-mile. The leaders then were Valhol, Cat Thief and Worldly Manner.

Antley made his move with him on the far turn, and in the stretch he joined the battle up front, Cat Thief on the inside and Worldly Manner between them. Charismatic edged ahead just inside the sixteenth pole. Menifee, 17th after a half-mile and 12th with a quarter-mile left, finally shook loose from traffic to make his belated run.

“There was a horrible jam at the quarter pole,” said Day, the rider of Menifee. “There were six horses in front of me, and I had to wheel my horse to the outside just to keep him running. When I got clear, he came hard.”

Antley won his first Derby with Strike The Gold in 1991.

“This was a dream,” he said Saturday. “As we approached the quarter pole, I was confident with the two in front, because I hadn’t really put my horse down yet. From that point, it was just a matter of hoping that nobody comes and gets you.”

Gary Stevens said his trip with General Challenge was the worst he’d ever had in a race.

“I don’t know how I didn’t fall on the first turn,” Stevens said. “Another problem was the slow pace. But it was nobody’s fault. You know, that’s the Derby.”

Baffert said Prime Timber would be his Preakness horse, in the second leg of the Triple Crown at Pimlico on May 15.

“My filly [Excellent Meeting] ran the best,” Baffert said. “But we don’t know how to act. We’re sort of lost souls. Silverbulletday [winner of Friday’s Kentucky Oaks] might also run in the Preakness.”

Charismatic is Preakness-bound, of course. Lukas has won the race four times.

“It won’t be easy,” Lukas said. “There are guys back there [at the barns] licking their wounds right now, and I know they’ll be coming at us with both barrels.”

* BOUNCING BACK: Jockey Chris Antley completes comeback from weight and drug dependency. Page 12

HIGHEST PAYOFFS

Highest payoffs for winners of the Kentucky Derby since $2 mutuel bets began in 1911 with year and price:

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Horse Year Payoff 1. Donerail 1913 $184.90 2. Gallahadion 1940 $72.40 3. Charismatic 1999 $64.60 4. Proud Clarion 1967 $62.20 5. Exterminator 1918 $61.20

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HOW THEY FINISHED

With Chris Antley aboard, Charismatic went off at 31-1 odds and won the Kentucky Derby:

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No. PP Horse Win Place Show 11 16 Charismatic 64.60 27.80 14.40 13 18 Menifee 8.40 5.80 8 10 Cat Thief 5.80

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* THE CHART: PAGE 12