Wilkes mired in 0-for-43 slump

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Ian Wilkes has been in racing long enough to know its ups and downs. The 55-year-old native of Australia has experienced the pinnacle of the sport, having won the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2012 with Fort Larned, so he’s accepting a recent slump for what it is – one of the inevitable cycles a tenured trainer must endure.

“When things go good, they’re good,” Wilkes said. “And when they’re not, well, that’s the way it goes. We all go through it.”

Wilkes starts this final week at Keeneland winless in 43 starts at a meet that began Oct. 2. Last weekend typified his frustrations – Four Graces came out of her seventh-place finish Saturday in the Raven Run with a knee injury, and stretch runs from his last two starters Sunday fell just shy of halting the skein. Alongside his win goose-egg are six seconds and 10 thirds.

“I really can’t complain because the horses are running good,” Wilkes said. “Hopefully, a lot of them will be able to come back and win next time.”

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Four Graces, a romping winner of the Grade 3 Dogwood in June and Grade 3 Beaumont in July, remains at Keeneland, awaiting further evaluation for a small knee chip, Wilkes said early Monday.

“We’re waiting to hear how we should proceed,” he said.

His last two runners Sunday loomed boldly in midstretch, only to miss. With Dignity appeared to be gaining quickly on the top two in the Dowager – Blame Debbie and Always Shopping – only to spin her wheels late, while Seminole Beach ran out of real estate in the finale when finishing second to fellow first-timer Sound the Charge by a diminishing head.

“These things keep you humble,” Wilkes said. “It’s a humbling game, for sure.”

Besides winning a BC Classic, Wilkes also played a key role in a couple of Kentucky Derby victories with Unbridled (1990) and Street Sense (2007) as a close associate of Carl Nafzger, the semi-retired Hall of Fame trainer.