LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The legend of D. Wayne Lukas can grow at Saturday's Kentucky Derby.
Mornings at Churchill Downs start for D. Wayne Lukas like they do every morning -- a 3 a.m. wake up call and it's out on the track.
"It's still very special," Lukas said.
At age 88, it never gets old.
"I talked to some of these younger trainers and I say, you know, you can do a lot of things but you need to put the Derby on your resume if you can," Lukas said.
The Hall of Famer has done that plenty of times. The last of which back in 1999 with Charismatic.
"I have been there and done it and felt that, what you're talking about, I'd like to do it for my clientele," Lukas said. "If I can put them in that spot, that would be special. That's what I like to do."
You simply can't tell the story of the Kentucky Derby without Lukas. But don't be mistaken, because that's not a book he plans on closing anytime soon. His latest chapter is Just Steel, a big horse matching the size of his trainers personality.
"He's got the type of stride and motion that I like and he's got pretty good speed for a big horse," Lukas said. "When it does get time to lay it down and we're gonna find out where the pretenders are in their contenders and so forth. He will probably show up."
Showing up in the Winner's Circle for the races' 150th anniversary would be a nice little footnote on his resume. But for Lukas, the number of the Derby doesn't matter.
"I don't care if it's 150 or 15 or 46, I just want it on there."
Make it easy to keep up-to-date with more stories like this. Download the WHAS11 News app now. For Apple or Android users.
Have a news tip? Email assign@whas11.com, visit our Facebook page or Twitter feed.