Scholarship fund to honor Lukas

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – The Arkansas Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association has established a scholarship fund in honor of the late Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas.

Jeanette Milligan, the organization’s executive director, said the idea for both the scholarship and naming it for Lukas came from Arkansas HBPA president Bill Walmsley. It will be announced Friday night, when Lukas is inducted into the Arkansas Sports Hall of Fame alongside Oaklawn president Lou Cella.

“The HBPA’s motto is horsemen helping horsemen,” Milligan said, “and this is another way of the horsemen helping horsemen by the HBPA funding the scholarship for trainers and their employees on the backside to further their education, for themselves or their children.”

A scholarship board is being formed, and the first scholarships will likely be awarded in the fall, Milligan said.

◗ Members of the Lukas family will be in town Friday and Saturday. The Dawn at Oaklawn program with Nancy Holthus will feature a panel of guests telling Lukas stories at 8:30 a.m. Saturday on the apron. A short memorial service will follow at 9:45 a.m. in the chaplain building across from the track kitchen. Both events are free and open to the public.

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