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Originally Posted by Danzig188
every time?! that's a sweeping generalization, isn't it? the man has won everything you can win, some races many times over...he was at the top of this game for many many years. no one can sustain a career at the very top for ever. he set the bar incredibly high-so high that even he couldn't sustain that pace. but then, who can?
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In another post you compared him to an athlete such as Michael Jordan. The proper comparison would be to a coach, not an athlete. Trainers and coaches don't lose their skills when they turn 70. I don't think his downfall has anything to do with his age.
As I've said a number of times before, Lukas was way ahead of his time when it came to pharmacology. He was one of the only guys that had all of his horses on steroids back in the 1980s. Now all trainers pretty much use steroids. Do you have any idea what a huge advantage you would have if you were the only one using steroids? All of Lukas' 2 year olds were as big and strong as 3 year olds. His 3 year olds were physically as mature as 4 year olds. That's why he was winning everything in sight. Before you knew it, he had all the biggest owners. He was outspending everyone by 10x.
But once all the other trainers got caught up in terms of pharmacology, Lukas no longer had an advantage. He's been slowing going downhill ever since.
You keep saying that nobody can stay on top forever. We know that. Nobody expects someone to stay on top forever. But this isn't just a case of someone no longer being on top. This is a case of someone going from the top to the bottom. His win percentage is under 10%. And he still gets very good horses. He gets better stock than 99% of the guys out there. For the stock he gets, he does terrible.
Anyway, he has a terrible reputation for a reason. If you bring up his name around other trainers, they just shake their head in disgust. And it's certainly not out of jealousy. If they were going to be jealous, they would be jealous of the guys who are successful today such as Frankel, Mott, Pletcher, etc. If you bring up any of these names, people don't shake their heads in disgust.