D. Wayne Lukas

D. Wayne Lukas (born September 2, 1935, Antigo, Wisconsin, U.S.—died June 28, 2025, Louisville, Kentucky) was an American Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse trainer whose horses won 15 Triple Crown races and 20 Breeders’ Cup events. In 1999 Lukas became the first trainer whose horses exceeded $200 million in winnings.

Early life

Lukas was raised on a farm in Wisconsin. He raced his pony at the local fairgrounds and at age eight began buying, selling, and training horses. He continued training and trading horses while at the University of Wisconsin, where he received a master’s degree in education (1961).

Horse training

Lukas began training Quarter Horses full-time in 1967 and won 73 races in 1970. In 1975 his 150 victories doubled the record for most Quarter Horse wins in a year by a trainer. He produced 23 champions between 1976 and 1977 and captured all six major California stakes of $100,000 or more for three consecutive years (1975–77).

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Lukas began training Thoroughbreds full-time in 1978. While setting a record with 92 stakes winners in 1987, he became the first trainer in history to amass more purse earnings than the leading U.S. jockey. His horses won $17.8 million in 1988, more than double the amount ever won in a single year by any other trainer. Lukas won the Eclipse Award as the country’s best trainer for three consecutive years (1985–87). In 1988 Winning Colors gave Lukas his first Kentucky Derby victory. She was the third filly in history to claim such a victory. In 1990 he became the first trainer whose horses surpassed $100 million in total winnings.

After a few relatively unsuccessful years, Lukas won a fourth Eclipse Award in 1994, after his Tabasco Cat won the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. In 1995 Lukas became the first trainer to have multiple horses from his stable win all three Triple Crown races in a single year: Thunder Gulch claimed victory in both the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont, and Timber Country took the Preakness. After his Grindstone won the 1996 Kentucky Derby, Lukas became the first trainer to win six consecutive Triple Crown races.

In 1997 Lukas returned to training Quarter Horses, though he continued to train Thoroughbreds as well. Charismatic came close to sealing a Triple Crown for Lukas in 1999, winning both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. However, the horse lagged in the Belmont and was eventually determined to have broken his leg; despite the loss, Charismatic was named Horse of the Year. That same year Lukas became the first trainer whose horses exceeded $200 million in winnings.

In 2000 Commendable won the Belmont, and two years later Lukas primed Orientate for a win at the Breeder’s Cup. He guided the filly Folklore to a Breeder’s Cup win in 2005. He held the Breeder’s Cup record with 20 wins. In 2013 Lukas claimed an unprecedented 14th Triple Crown race win with Oxbow’s victory in the Preakness; Bob Baffert surpassed his record in 2018. Even through the end of his career, Lukas continued to make history. He became the oldest trainer to win a Triple Crown race when Seize the Grey won the Preakness in 2024, giving Lukas his seventh victory in the event. The following year the 89-year-old Lukas contracted a MRSA blood infection that damaged his heart and digestive system. It also worsened other chronic conditions. On June 22, 2025, his family announced that Lukas had retired from racing, and he died less than a week later. All horses previously trained by Lukas were transferred to his longtime assistant trainer, Sebastian (“Bas”) Nicholl.

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Lukas was inducted into the National Thoroughbred Racing Hall of Fame in 1999 and the American Quarter Horse Hall of Fame in 2007.

Personal life

Lukas was married several times. He and his first wife, Janet Lukas, had a son, Jeff Lukas. In 1993 Jeff Lukas, also a talented trainer, was severely injured when he tried to stop Tabasco Cat after the horse broke free from its handlers. The horse ran into the younger Lukas at near full speed, fracturing his skull and causing severe brain trauma. Jeff Lukas never fully recovered, and his career as a horse trainer ended. He died in 2016.