I agree. Azeri won around 10 or 12 graded stakes races under DeSeroux. She won 3 with Lukas. Don't get me wrong, Lukas did a good job with her but she the horse was already a super-star.

ok, i guess its come to this

Allen Jerkens
Jack Van Berg
Charles Wittingham
Laz Barrera

i mean the lists goes on and on, most of these guys were HOF's before Lukas even got into the game. I assume they had nothing to do with paving way right?

-bt-

If I remember, the vets did an amazing job to save the filly's life. It was a very complicated surgery and they were lucky to save her. The vets explained to the press exactly what they did. So when the press asked Lukas about the fillies condition, they were shocked when Lukas said that she was fine and acted like what happened was no big deal. He acted like the horse wasn't even hurt bad and that she was never in any grave danger. When the press told Lukas that the vets said they were lucky to save her, Lukas said something to the effect of 'Those vets always exaggerate and act like a horse's condition was much worse than it was, just so they can take credit and make people think that they can walk on water.'

Lukas wasn't even appreciative about what the vets had done to save his horse. It was more important for him to downplay the injury in order to take the focus off the vets and put it back on him for wiining those big races.

No one said that the aforementioned quartet aren't/weren't good trainers, but none REVOLUTIONIZED the training business a la Lukas. That was the point.

i guess i must be off today. But can you refresh my memory on how he SINGLE HANDILY REVOLUTIONIZED ALL OF THOROUGHBRED RACING , again im sorry i'm slow

this is all aside from the fact that he and his magical hands reincarnated Azeri as if she was never a good horse in the first place, that part i got


-bt-

LUKAS...There is NO substitute.

Just because a trainer doesn't publicly show emotion about an injured horse doesn't mean they don't care about it. So what if Todd Pletcher didn't sprint to Fleet Indians side with tears streaming down his face. He didn't look too happy in the photos of him by her side waiting for 30 minutes for the horse ambulance to get there. And anyone that thinks Wayne is absolutely heartless when it comes to his horses, needs to have the man tell you the story of Landaluce. He was cradling her head when she died. His eyes didn't look very dry while he told me that story.

Oh, and his face lights up just the same when you ask him about some of the champions he trained.

I remember reading somewhere that wayne said after Landaluce died he never let himself get emotionally attached to another horse...because her death affected him too much.

The fact that Lukas was extremely upset when Landaluce died, does not prove that he is not heartless. If I had a goose that laid golden eggs and I was extremely upset that the goose died, would that prove that I have a heart? That is absurd.

The guy is as heartless as any trainer I have ever seen. I'm not going out on a limb saying that. Pretty much everyone on the backstretch will tell you the same thing.

By "everyone" you mean all of the jealous, backstabbing, knockers I assume.

No, not at all. I'm talking about top trainers who are doing way better than Lukas is doing right now. It has nothing to do with jealousy. If they were going to be jealous of someone, they would be jealous of Pletcher and Frankel. Those are the guys winning everything these days.

Many of the people I know that knock Lukas are people that never say a bad word about anyone.

that 1 is also worthy of the archives, but please spell it correctly its luka$$

ok, so now lukas doesn't care about horses? he sat on the stall floor with landaluces head in his lap, crying while she died after they did everything they could for her. how often do you think someone can go thru that kind of stuff before they start trying to shield themselves? breakdowns are a part of this sport, as we are all aware. but everyone trying to demonize dwl for not showing emotion might want to re-think all that.

it appears that i was too late in mentioning this story, as others already did so. funny tho how some have an answer for everything, especially when it doesn't fit into their idea of how dwl may or may not be...

maybe you're thinking of spain? certainly not azeri.
i have to say, altho some trainers real or perceived coldness might be offputting, i was also nauseated every time LDS called azeri 'honey bear'.

Yes, Spain was more excellent work by the master Lukas. I too, recall wanting to puke each time the words "honey bear" were invoked.

For example:

I bowed honey bear, she is finished. I can't believe that evil man ( lukas) thinks he can race her. I feel bad for my little honey bear.

I don't recall saying that lukas doesn't care about his horses. I stated a personal preference for different trainers and why. Honestly, I don't like the racing schedules I've seen with horses like Going Wild, but then again, had he not been aggressive with Charismatic he wouldn't have won the roses with him. From everything I've read and seen of his records, DWL is much to complex for me to form a black and white opinion on him. Just the other day I was marveling over his quotes at some seminar, it was something about success and working hard and was probably the best quote I've read in a long time from anyone in this business, but I would probably still choose a different trainer.

i doubt your posts were the ones i was referencing. and i also would go with a different trainer. and it wouldn't be todd pletcher. i'd rather have someone more hands on, with a small stable.

If you ever make it out to Los Angeles, give me a call. We can go to the backstretch in the morning and you can talk all the people who know Lukas. You can talk to his former grooms, former exercise riders, vets, and fellow trainers and you can explain to them how they don't know anything about Lukas and how they don't understand him, but how you as a fan know him and understand him better than they do.

Yeah, just like you -- right? Your opinion is more qualified than others here -- why? Because you are in the game? So am I. So are others. My opinion differs from yours. Doesn't mean a thing. We both have opinions, although you state everything as fact. Let me ask you a question -- have you ever been wrong? It doesn't sound like it.

The difference is you started out by making claims and accusations and have no proof whatsover. Rounding up a group of people, I don't care who they are, to agree with you doesn't mean squat. Anyone else can find just as many who would disagree and that too doesn't mean squat. That's really the point -- you don't see the difference between opinion and fact. It seems as if you live in your world of "you are always right" and what you say is "fact", but everyone else who may disagree with you is wrong and don't have qualified opinions. That is MY OPINION.

"Honest" opinions are in the eye of the person who believes them to be honest -- or not for that matter. Maybe they are biased. Maybe they are tainted. Maybe those opinions are filled with personal baggage and venom -- just like your posts, claims, accusations, and statements here on this thread, time and time again, about Lukas.

By the way -- other than your venom, about your claims and accusations -- just to point out one small thing I see . . . Still NO PROOF! Right? I didn't think so.

Eric

I don't think a person's reputation is a matter of opinion. His reputation is his reputation. His repuation speaks for itself. My opinion is irrelevant. Whether I like him or hate him, his reputation does not change.

I wasn't talking about rounding a bunch of hand-chosen people. I was talking about walking around and talking to all different people. You would be hard-pressed to find anyone that has anything good to say about him. And it has very little to do with his personality. Bobby Frankel is not exactly a really friendly guy. He may not be all that popular, but even people that don't like him still think he's a good trainer.

As I said before, you can believe whatever you want.