Lukas Classic pivotal race for Mind Your Biscuits

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Chad Summers is poised to saddle a horse for a Churchill Downs race for the first time, but this is hardly his first visit to the historic track.

Summers, 33, has attended a half-dozen runnings of the Kentucky Derby since 2001, when he and his father and brother ventured as novice fans from their Long Island, N.Y., home to sit in the rafters of Sec. 325, high across from the quarter pole.

His vantage point, you might say, has improved substantially since then.

Summers will send out Mind Your Biscuits as the heavy favorite in the Grade 3, $200,000 Lukas Classic, the highlight of an 11-race card Saturday night under the Churchill lights. Summers has been on an astounding climb the last couple of years as the original buyer, co-owner, and now the trainer (for the last 10 starts) of Mind Your Biscuits, the all-time leading earner among New York-breds, with a bankroll of $4,159,286.

“I’ve been blessed,” said Summers. “We came here as fans, knowing nobody, and now here we are with this great horse. It’s unbelievable.”

Mind Your Biscuits, with Tyler Gaffalione to ride, will break from post 6 in a field of eight older horses in the Lukas Classic, a 1 1/8-mile race that Summers said will determine which Breeders’ Cup race (Classic, Dirt Mile, or Sprint) will be chosen for the 5-year-old horse. First post Saturday is 6 p.m. Eastern, with the Lukas going as race 9 (10:11).

“Right now, we’re 33.33 percent for every race,” said Summers. “Everything depends on what we see out of him Saturday night.”

Honorable Duty (post 1, Corey Lanerie), the 2017 winner for trainer Brendan Walsh, is among the opposition in the Lukas Classic, which was first run in 2013 to honor the active Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

The other Saturday night stakes are the $100,000 Jefferson Cup (race 7, 9:05), which drew 10 3-year-old turf horses; the Grade 3, $100,000 Ack Ack (race 8, 9:39), which has Awesome Slew, Giant Expectations, and Seeking the Soul among a field of seven going a one-turn mile; and the Grade 1, $100,000 President of the United Arab Emirates (race 10, 10:42) for Arabians.

This will be the 48th Downs After Dark card at Churchill and the fourth (and last) this year. General admission is $10. TVG will have full coverage on its main channel.