When Hall of Fame coach D. Wayne Lukas loaded the wagon in Kentucky and steered it toward Racecourse SaratogaThe truck has some precious cargo.
Start with a 3-year-old Secret Vow . Enough said.
She keeps 86-year-old Lukas happy and young. But what really gets him ready to roll are the kids. During his long and illustrious career, he has had magical contact with young people.
And, here he comes again. Lukas is set to unleash another on Saratoga in Naughty Gal , owned by Holy Cow Stable. She will run on August 7 Adirondack $200,000 (G2), the second of three stake races for 2-year-olds.
“I don’t know how many times I’ve won it,” Lukas said as he sat behind his desk in his barn office at the Oklahoma Training School. “More than once.”
Definitely more than once. Lukas has won Adirondack’s record six times, including four years in a row: 1985-88.
Naughty Gal, daughter of Into Mischief –Conway two steps via spanish dance bred in Florida and purchased for $350,000 at Ocala Breeder’s Sales in 2022 March Selling 2-year-olds in training.
At the start of her second career, July 4 at Churchill Downs, Naughty Gal took down 10 opponents and won 9 1/4 of the time. It can be much more.
“She was just flying,” Lukas said.
When the Spa meetup opened on July 14, Lukas ran 6-5 favorites Summer Promise in Schuylerville (G3) for 2-year-olds. She finished second. Lukas won the Summer Promise Award; he has the same vibe about Naughty Gal.
Naughty Gal will be ridden by Luis Saez and will start from second in the 6 1/2 race.
“You know you have a good one,” Lukas says of 2-year-olds. “One thing about the 2-year-old race is that it’s like the NCAA Tournament. People come from different regions and you don’t have any ideas. You think you have a good guy and you come here and maybe there’s a beater world and you won’t even be aware of it.”
Only one Adirondack runner competed in Schuylerville, it was Gary Barber Janis Joplin , who finished third after a slow start. Trained by Mark Casse, daughter of California Chrome also finished third on her first warm-up, in Churchill Downs on June 29.
“I think that’s a good thing,” Casse said of Janis Joplin’s effort in Schuylerville. “She gets better the longer she goes. She has room for improvement, that’s for sure.”
The other four horses in the race belonged to Michael DubbApple selector a daughter of Prince Cairo who broke her maiden four lengths at Belmont Park on July 2 for coach Rudy Rodriguez; JS stables’ Promise of hope via Ghostzapper and was the 3 1/2 length winner in her first start at Churchill Downs July 1 for coach Tom Amoss; Valene’s Farm Sabra Tuff a daughter of Cross Traffic who was last seen finishing second in the Debutante Stakes at Churchill July 4 for the Dallas Stewart and Perrine Time Thoroughbreds’ coaches Damaso via Machining third place in My Dear Stakes at Honeysuckle July 16 for coach Timothy Hamm.
