D. Wayne Lukas knew a thing or two about training a good colt. He trained 14 colts to win American Triple Crown races, from Codex in 1980 to Seize the Grey in 2024. He trained Cat Thief to win the 1999 Breeders’ Cup Classic (USA-G1) and had five winners of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (USA-G1), second only to Bob Baffert. At one time or another during Lukas’s long career as a Thoroughbred trainer, colts from his stable scored in just about every major event for males on the American calendar. Both Criminal Type (1990) and Charismatic (1999) earned American Horse of the Year honors in the trademark Lukas white bridle, and before moving over to Thoroughbreds, Lukas also trained the exceptional Quarter Horse champion Dash for Cash, a horse still legendary in Quarter Horse circles.
Nevertheless, if Lukas is remembered for one thing more than another, it will be the remarkable fillies that graced his stable. More than any other trainer of modern times, Lukas could spot a potential star filly, get inside what made her tick, and develop her into a champion. Sixteen fillies and mares earned Eclipse Awards while in Lukas’s barn, compared to nine males that did so.
Lukas also racked up a remarkable record in some of the nation’s top races for distaffers. Along with Woody Stephens, he holds the record as the top Kentucky Oaks trainer of all time, sending out Blush With Pride (1982), Lucky Lucky Lucky (1984), Open Mind (1989), Seaside Attraction (1990), and Secret Oath (2022). He holds the trainers’ record for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (USA-G1) with six winners and sent out four winners of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (USA-G1), one short of Bill Mott’s record. As if this were not enough, he developed one of only three fillies to win the Kentucky Derby (USA-G1) in Winning Colors, who won the 1988 running and was third in the classic Preakness Stakes (USA-G1) as well.
Winning Colors exemplified one of the key elements in Lukas’s handling of top fillies: he was never afraid to send a filly out against males if he thought she belonged there. Terlingua, his first top filly, won the 1978 Hollywood Juvenile Championship (USA-G2), defeating Flying Paster (a future multiple Grade 1 winner) by 2¼ lengths. During Lady’s Secret’s championship season in 1986, she raced four times against males in Grade 1 events, winning the Whitney Handicap and placing in the other three. Serena’s Song tackled males five times during her career, coming away with the winner’s trophies in the 1995 Haskell Invitational Handicap (USA-G1) and Jim Beam Stakes (USA-G2). Even in the twilight of his career, Lukas was willing to take a shot with a girl against the boys, sending Secret Oath out to run third in the Arkansas Derby (USA-G1) and a respectable fourth in the Preakness.
Sadly, perhaps the best filly he ever had in his barn died with her full potential still untapped; this was Landaluce, a daughter of Seattle Slew who earned a posthumous Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old filly in 1982 after winning her five starts by a combined margin of 46½ lengths. Unbeaten, untested, and unextended on the track, she died of a massive bacterial infection on November 28, 1982, with her head cradled in Lukas’s arms. She might have been one for the ages had she lived.
No other horse Lukas trained ever captured his heart as Landaluce had, but the “Coach” was blessed to have three other legendary fillies who defined his career perhaps better than any other horses he trained. The first was Lady’s Secret, a tiny daughter of Secretariat who proved to have inherited an outsized share of her sire’s talent and heart. Second only to champion Mom’s Command (whom she defeated by two lengths in the 1985 Test Stakes, USA-G2) as a 3-year-old, Lady’s Secret became the “Iron Lady” of racing at age 4, when she started 15 times, all in graded stakes races. She won 10 of those races, setting a single-season North American record with eight Grade 1 wins, and placed in her other five starts, earning the golden Eclipse statuette of 1986 as American Horse of the Year.
Winning Colors came along next. A big, fiery daughter of Caro who was taller and stronger than most of the colts of her year, she earned her ticket to the Kentucky Derby by mowing down the best of the West Coast sophomore males in the 1988 Santa Anita Derby (USA-G1), a race she won by 7½ lengths. Following her front-running Kentucky Derby win, she became only the second filly to compete in all three American Triple Crown races (the first was Genuine Risk in 1980) and later pushed the unbeaten older champion female Personal Ensign to her absolute limit in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, with the older filly snatching victory in the last jump of what is still considered one of the finest Breeders’ Cup races of all time.
Rounding out this trio of racing queens is Serena’s Song. Like Lady’s Secret, she was on the small side, taking after her sire, Rahy. But where Lady’s Secret was iron, Serena’s Song was pure hickory. After finding her stablemate, champion Flanders, just a little too good for her in an epic renewal of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Serena’s Song moved into the gap created by Flanders’s injury and retirement with a nearly flawless 13-race campaign at age 3. In hindsight, she probably should have run in the 1995 Kentucky Oaks rather than the Kentucky Derby as she proved not to stay beyond 9 furlongs, an eighth of a mile short of the Derby distance. Still, she had certainly proved her right to enter the Derby by whipping eventual Derby runner-up Tejano Run in the Jim Beam Stakes, and she became the first filly to win the Haskell Invitational Handicap later in the year. She was an easy choice as the champion 3-year-old filly of 1995. At 4, Serena’s Song could not quite match eventual champion Jewel Princess, but in a tough 15-race campaign, she won a pair of Grade 1 races and placed in five more top-level races, including a runner-up finish in the 1996 Whitney Handicap while conceding winner Mahogany Hall 3 pounds of actual weight. Serena’s Song went on to join Terlingua, Blush With Pride, and Seaside Attraction as top broodmares who were conditioned by Lukas during their racing careers and is still living in retirement at the advanced age of 33.
Lukas’s magic touch with fillies was an outgrowth of the careful observation and sharp attention to detail that marked him throughout his training career. “If you make a mistake with a colt, you can probably correct it next time and he’ll just shrug it off,” he said during a 2024 interview with yours truly. “Fillies aren’t forgiving. If you make a mistake with one, she’ll remember it and she may never trust you again.” In his view, the trick was to get inside a filly’s head and figure out what she wanted and needed before a crucial mistake could be made. He succeeded more often than not, and that was what made him racing’s “queen-maker,” perhaps the greatest trainer of American champion fillies of all time.
Rest in peace, Coach. You, too, were one for the ages.
Nevertheless, if Lukas is remembered for one thing more than another, it will be the remarkable fillies that graced his stable. More than any other trainer of modern times, Lukas could spot a potential star filly, get inside what made her tick, and develop her into a champion. Sixteen fillies and mares earned Eclipse Awards while in Lukas’s barn, compared to nine males that did so.
Lukas also racked up a remarkable record in some of the nation’s top races for distaffers. Along with Woody Stephens, he holds the record as the top Kentucky Oaks trainer of all time, sending out Blush With Pride (1982), Lucky Lucky Lucky (1984), Open Mind (1989), Seaside Attraction (1990), and Secret Oath (2022). He holds the trainers’ record for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (USA-G1) with six winners and sent out four winners of the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (USA-G1), one short of Bill Mott’s record. As if this were not enough, he developed one of only three fillies to win the Kentucky Derby (USA-G1) in Winning Colors, who won the 1988 running and was third in the classic Preakness Stakes (USA-G1) as well.
Winning Colors exemplified one of the key elements in Lukas’s handling of top fillies: he was never afraid to send a filly out against males if he thought she belonged there. Terlingua, his first top filly, won the 1978 Hollywood Juvenile Championship (USA-G2), defeating Flying Paster (a future multiple Grade 1 winner) by 2¼ lengths. During Lady’s Secret’s championship season in 1986, she raced four times against males in Grade 1 events, winning the Whitney Handicap and placing in the other three. Serena’s Song tackled males five times during her career, coming away with the winner’s trophies in the 1995 Haskell Invitational Handicap (USA-G1) and Jim Beam Stakes (USA-G2). Even in the twilight of his career, Lukas was willing to take a shot with a girl against the boys, sending Secret Oath out to run third in the Arkansas Derby (USA-G1) and a respectable fourth in the Preakness.
Sadly, perhaps the best filly he ever had in his barn died with her full potential still untapped; this was Landaluce, a daughter of Seattle Slew who earned a posthumous Eclipse Award as champion 2-year-old filly in 1982 after winning her five starts by a combined margin of 46½ lengths. Unbeaten, untested, and unextended on the track, she died of a massive bacterial infection on November 28, 1982, with her head cradled in Lukas’s arms. She might have been one for the ages had she lived.
No other horse Lukas trained ever captured his heart as Landaluce had, but the “Coach” was blessed to have three other legendary fillies who defined his career perhaps better than any other horses he trained. The first was Lady’s Secret, a tiny daughter of Secretariat who proved to have inherited an outsized share of her sire’s talent and heart. Second only to champion Mom’s Command (whom she defeated by two lengths in the 1985 Test Stakes, USA-G2) as a 3-year-old, Lady’s Secret became the “Iron Lady” of racing at age 4, when she started 15 times, all in graded stakes races. She won 10 of those races, setting a single-season North American record with eight Grade 1 wins, and placed in her other five starts, earning the golden Eclipse statuette of 1986 as American Horse of the Year.
Winning Colors came along next. A big, fiery daughter of Caro who was taller and stronger than most of the colts of her year, she earned her ticket to the Kentucky Derby by mowing down the best of the West Coast sophomore males in the 1988 Santa Anita Derby (USA-G1), a race she won by 7½ lengths. Following her front-running Kentucky Derby win, she became only the second filly to compete in all three American Triple Crown races (the first was Genuine Risk in 1980) and later pushed the unbeaten older champion female Personal Ensign to her absolute limit in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, with the older filly snatching victory in the last jump of what is still considered one of the finest Breeders’ Cup races of all time.
Rounding out this trio of racing queens is Serena’s Song. Like Lady’s Secret, she was on the small side, taking after her sire, Rahy. But where Lady’s Secret was iron, Serena’s Song was pure hickory. After finding her stablemate, champion Flanders, just a little too good for her in an epic renewal of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Serena’s Song moved into the gap created by Flanders’s injury and retirement with a nearly flawless 13-race campaign at age 3. In hindsight, she probably should have run in the 1995 Kentucky Oaks rather than the Kentucky Derby as she proved not to stay beyond 9 furlongs, an eighth of a mile short of the Derby distance. Still, she had certainly proved her right to enter the Derby by whipping eventual Derby runner-up Tejano Run in the Jim Beam Stakes, and she became the first filly to win the Haskell Invitational Handicap later in the year. She was an easy choice as the champion 3-year-old filly of 1995. At 4, Serena’s Song could not quite match eventual champion Jewel Princess, but in a tough 15-race campaign, she won a pair of Grade 1 races and placed in five more top-level races, including a runner-up finish in the 1996 Whitney Handicap while conceding winner Mahogany Hall 3 pounds of actual weight. Serena’s Song went on to join Terlingua, Blush With Pride, and Seaside Attraction as top broodmares who were conditioned by Lukas during their racing careers and is still living in retirement at the advanced age of 33.
Lukas’s magic touch with fillies was an outgrowth of the careful observation and sharp attention to detail that marked him throughout his training career. “If you make a mistake with a colt, you can probably correct it next time and he’ll just shrug it off,” he said during a 2024 interview with yours truly. “Fillies aren’t forgiving. If you make a mistake with one, she’ll remember it and she may never trust you again.” In his view, the trick was to get inside a filly’s head and figure out what she wanted and needed before a crucial mistake could be made. He succeeded more often than not, and that was what made him racing’s “queen-maker,” perhaps the greatest trainer of American champion fillies of all time.
Rest in peace, Coach. You, too, were one for the ages.
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