For Lukas, 13 Is Not Unlucky Number

Trainer Wayne Lukas was wearing a baseball cap around his barn at Santa Anita this winter that was awfully dated. It had 10 gold stars on the front, indicative of 10 wins in Triple Crown races.

“I know I’ve won more,” Lukas said, “but the guy who made these up must have quit after I got to 10. If somebody makes another cap that’s up to date, I’ll gladly wear it.”

Caps portraying Lukas’ Triple Crown success have limited shelf life. The number of Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes wins jumped to 13 Saturday at hot, steamy Belmont Park before 67,810 when Commendable, an unlikely contender at 18-1 odds, won the 132nd running of the Belmont.

Commendable’s 1 1/2-length win over Aptitude, the 8-5 favorite, enabled Lukas to match the legendary Sunny Jim Fitzsimmons, who won 13 Triple Crown races between 1930 and 1957.

“I’m flattered that I’ve tied that record,” Lukas said. “I didn’t know that statistic until somebody told me, but I’m flattered because of the man that held the record before me.”

The peaks and valleys for Lukas in the three classic races run off the page, and just a year ago he and Bob and Beverly Lewis, the owners of Commendable, agonized after a Belmont in which Charismatic finished third, breaking down just past the finish line as his chances of a Triple Crown sweep had been dashed.

Lukas is renowned for his resiliency. As Pat Day, the rider of Commendable, said Saturday: “The reason I came here to ride this horse was because of the confidence Wayne had in him. You can’t discount Wayne, any day of the week and especially on Saturday afternoons in the feature race.”

Lukas, the king of the positive thinkers, must have hustled Day, who had won two previous Belmonts, because otherwise the trainer had trouble working up enthusiasm for Commendable. Lukas stood at his barn Friday morning, scooping yogurt from a cup and saying that Commendable would need a “career best” to win the Belmont. He didn’t sound like a man who was roughing out a victory speech.

The Lewises, whose Belmont frustrations also included Silver Charm--another Derby-Preakness winner who couldn’t win the race in 1997--bought Commendable as a yearling for $575,000. But after winning his first race, in maiden company at Del Mar in August of last year, the Gone West-Bought Twice colt had lost six in a row. The nadir came in the Kentucky Derby, five weeks ago, when Commendable, ridden by Edgar Prado, lost by 26 lengths, beating only two horses as he ran 17th.

But because this will be remembered as one of the least compelling Belmonts ever--with Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus and Preakness winner Red Bullet not running--Lukas didn’t think that running Commendable was such an outlandish proposition. After all, the Belmont favorite, Aptitude, had also won only one race in his career.

“In the weeks leading up to the Belmont,” Lukas said, “we spent more energy analyzing the other horses than anything else. We didn’t have any grandiose ideas about overwhelming the field, but the more we looked at the field, the more we were convinced to run.”

Wednesday morning, the day entries would be taken for the Belmont, Bob Lewis, still in California, called Lukas at his Belmont barn.

“I was getting a little weak-kneed,” Lewis said. “I asked Wayne if we were doing the right thing. In his inimitable way, he assured me we were.”

Unofficially, because early records are incomplete, Commendable is said to be the first Derby horse to win the Belmont without running in a race in between. He gave the Lewises, of Newport Beach, their first Belmont win after two Derby wins (Silver Charm and Charismatic) and three victories (Timber Country, Silver Charm and Charismatic) in the Preakness.

On a 95-degree day, Aptitude, who was second in the Derby, was far back early, a spot that traditionally spells curtains for Belmont horses. Under Alex Solis, Aptitude was last in the 11-horse field, as many as 12 lengths behind, while Hugh Hefner, the 40-1 shot, ran creaky fractions of 24, 49 1/5 and 1:39 for the first mile.

“I was hoping for more pace,” Solis said. “He was spinning his wheels, but he got better when we got to the mile pole. At the eighth pole, I still thought I had a chance. But Commendable had too easy a time.”

Bobby Frankel, who trains Aptitude, took defeat hard.

“I’m very disappointed,” he said. “He was way too far back. He ran a really great race, but he used himself up getting to the leaders.”

Aptitude finished one length ahead of Unshaded, who was six lengths better than Wheelaway, the fourth-place horse. After that, the order of finish was Impeachment, Appearing Now, Postponed, Hugh Hefner, Tahkodha Hills, Globalize and Curule. Unshaded suffered a mild case of heat exhaustion. After his body temperature was lowered with water from a hose and ice water, he recovered and walked to the barn.

Commendable ran 1 1/2 miles in 2:31, the slowest winning time since 1995. Of the $1 million purse, $600,000 went to the winner. Commendable had earned only $88,470 entering the race.

Commendable raced in second place, behind Hugh Hefner, until the far turn, when Day took his horse to the lead.

“We followed Hugh Hefner,” Day said. “It was an energy-saving ride. I was not really asking him to run when he made the lead. I knew when we straightened out for home that they were going to have to come running to beat him. He still wasn’t to the bottom of the well when we came to the wire. Wayne read this horse well, and then he had the courage to put him in there.”

Horse Racing Notes

Jerry Bailey, who finished last with Curule in the Belmont, rode five winners on the card, including a victory aboard J.R. Holmes, formerly based in Southern California, in the $50,000 Colonial Affair Starter Handicap. . . . Sinndar, a 7-1 longshot owned by the Aga Khan, became the first Irish horse in 16 years to win the Epsom Derby in England. Second was Sakhee, third was Beat Hollow and Best Of The Bests, ridden by Chris McCarron, finished fourth.