Clapton takes Lukas Classic, brings Summers back to graded-stakes victory circle

Chad Summers, trainer of a small East Coast-based string, had last won a graded stakes race when Mind Your Biscuits captured the 2018 Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs. Five years later, Summers ended his graded-stakes drought in the same race when Clapton was up by a head over Trademark in the Grade 2, $500,000 Lukas Classic on Saturday.

Clapton had a fast pace at which to run while racing seventh among eight runners down the backstretch of the Lukas Classic, a nine-furlong dirt race, and the horse made the most of it. Under Cristian Torres, Clapton began gaining ground about the half-mile pole and continued making steady progress around the far turn. He was forced about seven paths off the rail turning for home at the quarter pole, but maintained his momentum, wearing down a stubborn Trademark in the final half-furlong.

“Around the half-mile pole, I could tell I had a lot of horse beneath me,” Torres said. “I tipped him outside at the quarter pole and he kept coming with his run.”

:: Bet with the Best! Get Free DRF PPs and Cashback when you wager. Join DRF Bets.

Trademark raced third, just a couple lengths off the leaders, and turned in a valiant performance in defeat considering the hot pace. He finished three quarters of a length in front of third-place Blue Devil, with 13-10 favorite Rattle N Roll, who had raced alongside Clapton to the five-furlong pole, almost five lengths farther behind in fourth.

Then came Happy American, last by a long way most of the race, and second choice Americanrevolution, who pressed Five Star General through a fast half-mile in 46.66 and paid the price. Whelen Springs finished seventh with Five Star General bringing up the rear. Clapton was timed in 1:48.79 over a fast track and paid $18.32.

It’s not as if Summers, who turns 40 in about a week, has been loaded with stakes prospects since his last win in a graded race. After Mind Your Biscuits was retired in 2018, Summers had only seven horses start in graded races before Clapton came along. Summers’ success with Mind Your Biscuits came out of nowhere. When the horse won the $2 million Dubai Golden Shaheen in 2017, it marked Summers’ first win as a trainer. Mind Your Biscuits went back to Dubai and repeated in the 2018 Shaheen and the connections Summers made in Dubai led directly to his training Clapton.

Clapton, a 4-year-old Florida-bred by Brethren out of Alexandra Rylee, by Afleet Alex, was bred by Alan Cohen’s Arindel and made his first 22 starts for his breeder and trainer Juan Alvarado. Clapton’s graded-stakes debut came in April 2022 when he finished 10th at 139-1 in the Florida Derby, but while the colt looked hopeless in that spot, he developed significantly during the second part of his 3-year-old season and into 2023.

Clapton’s career hit a high point when he won the Grade 3 Ghostzapper on April 1 at Gulfstream and, following a second-place finish July 8 in the Grade 2 Suburban, Clapton was sold to RRR Racing, the nom de course of Sheikh Rashid Bin Humaid al Nuaimi, an Emirati royal and politician.

Clapton made his first start for the new connections in the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup on Sept. 2 at Saratoga, where he rallied into a slow pace to finish a good fourth. Summers, who hopes to get the horse to the 2024 Dubai World Cup, said he chose the Churchill race over two different Saturday stakes, the Woodward in New York and the Awesome Again in California, because he thought Clapton would get a stronger pace in front of him racing in Kentucky. He was right. Ring up another Lukas Classic for Chad Summers.

:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.