Keeneland: Lukas returns with 30 horses for spring meet

D. Wayne Lukas owns a slew of training records at Keeneland, including all-time wins (275), all-time stakes wins (50), most meet titles won or shared (16), and most wins at a meet (22, fall 1989).

But it has been a while since the Hall of Fame trainer has been a major presence at Keeneland, with his most recent title coming at the 2003 spring meet. Currently amid a resurgence at Oaklawn Park, where into this week he topped the standings with 23 wins, Lukas will once again have a stable at Keeneland after an absence of several years. He also will have his full complement of horses back at Churchill after Oaklawn ends April 16.

“I’ll have about 30 head bedded down at Keeneland when the meet starts,” said Sebastian “Bas” Nicholl, now in his ninth year as an assistant to Lukas. “Last year I had a similar number of horses at Delaware Park, but we’re going to have everything in Kentucky this year. We’ve got quite a few 2-year-olds, and Wayne believes Keeneland is a very good place for them to train.”

Terranova on the grounds with 24 runners

John Terranova is at Keeneland with 24 horses, far more than he has ever brought here from Florida on his way back to New York.

“We’ve always enjoyed shipping in here and done okay,” said Terranova, who has three career stakes wins here and is preparing Swift Warrior for the meet showcase, the April 16 Blue Grass Stakes. “We have more horses in the barn this year, and I’ve got some races marked that I thought we had a shot at.”

Terranova is one of a number of New York trainers with sizable stables here this spring, with some of the others being Bill Mott, Shug McGaughey, and Christophe Clement.

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