Lukas firing with two barrels

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- Trainer D. Wayne Lukas is coming off a big weekend on the Kentucky Derby trail, sending out Bravazo to win the Grade 2 Risen Star on Saturday at Fair Grounds and saddling Sporting Chance to a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes on Monday at Oaklawn.

Lukas said both horses were in good order on Tuesday, with Bravazo being pointed for the Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds and Sporting Chance on deck for the Grade 2, $900,000 Rebel on March 17 at Oaklawn. The Southwest was Sporting Chance’s first start since his win in the Grade 1 Hopeful last September at Saratoga.

“It was really an excellent race coming off that long a layoff,” Lukas said Tuesday. “The thing you got to watch out for, you can’t screw down on them in February to the point where you think the Southwest is the ultimate goal. It’s certainly not. Trainers will tell you that. You have to have a progression in the process a little bit.”

Lukas noted Sporting Chance was hit by rivals twice in the stretch on Monday. There was an inquiry into the drive, but no change was made to the order of finish. Beaten seven lengths by the winner, My Boy Jack, Sporting Chance earned a Beyer Figure of 82 for his effort in the Southwest.

“He got hit hard right there at the sixteenth pole, lost all his momentum, and came back to be third,” Lukas said. “He was hit twice in the stretch – two different horses in the stretch. It was kind of a bang-bang deal. But that’s horse racing.”

:: The Road to the Kentucky Derby Player's Package

Lukas said he looks forward to the Rebel.

“I think we’re going to see a lot tighter horse,” he said. “It wouldn’t surprise me to see him run a huge race in the Rebel.”

Sporting Chance races for Robert Baker and William Mack.

Bravazo leads all 3-year-olds in Kentucky Derby points through Tuesday, with 54. He was a nose winner of the Risen Star.

“Those make you sleep better,” Lukas said of winning a race that awards 50 points for the Kentucky Derby.

Bravazo, who last year was second in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity, earned career-high Beyer Figure of 93 for his win in the Risen Star.

“I think we saw enough of Bravazo to think that he probably is going to be a horse to be reckoned with in the Louisiana Derby,” Lukas said Tuesday. “The big thing that I liked was the way that he fought back. That was not an easy race. He took all the heat early, a lot of pressure, could have caved in going that far on a track he’d never run on before. It was a great effort.”

Lukas said Bravazo returned to his Oaklawn base Sunday.

“He’s excellent,” he said. “He really made the trip in great shape and was very bright.”

Bravazo races for Calumet Farm.

“His race was really pleasing," Lukas said. “It was wonderful for Calumet – a homebred horse – and I was really pleased for Brad Kelley. He was excited, too.”

Bravazo is by Awesome Again.