D.韦恩·卢卡斯(Wayne Lukas)去世，他是名人堂成员，也是赛马历史上最有成就的教练之一，也是这项运动几十年来的象征。他89岁了。
他的家人周日表示，卢卡斯于周六晚在肯塔基州路易斯维尔的家中去世。卢卡斯已经住院了严重的耐甲氧西林金黄色葡萄球菌血液感染对他的心脏和消化系统造成了严重损害，并恶化了原有的慢性疾病。
他的家人在一份声明中说:“韦恩不仅致力于马，也致力于这个行业——培养了一代又一代的骑手和女骑手，并通过邀请不知情的粉丝进入获胜者的圈子来发展这项运动。”“无论是吹嘘一个2岁的小女孩是下一个肯塔基赛马会的冠军，还是在一场大赛前提供安静的建议，韦恩都把热情、优雅和勇气带到了这项运动的每一个角落。他最后的日子是在肯塔基州的家中度过的，在那里他选择了和平、家庭和信仰。
卢卡斯赢得了15次三连冠比赛，包括四次肯塔基赛马会。只有好朋友鲍勃·巴弗特获得了更多的三冠王，卢卡斯在育种者杯世界锦标赛上创纪录地获得了20个冠军。
“我认为，这项运动的全部秘密在于能够读懂这匹马:读懂它需要什么，不需要什么，不能做什么，能做什么，”卢卡斯在5月份第34次也是最后一次预kness赌注前说。“这是全部的关键。每个人都有铁匠，每个人都有同一张床，那个送饭的。我们都可以雇一个好骑师。如果我们有办法，我们都可以雇一个相当不错的健身骑手，那有什么区别呢?马是不同的，我们在阅读他时用他做什么。”
在谷仓和赛马场，卢卡斯被亲切地称为“蔻驰”，因为在他的职业马生涯开始之前，他是高中篮球教练。即使距离他的90岁生日还有几个月，他也会在清晨骑着他的小马起床，自己去赛马场，而不是让他的助手做日常工作。
1935年9月2日，生于威斯康星州的达内尔·韦恩·卢卡斯在三个孩子中排行老二，他在短跑比赛中以四分之一马的成绩脱颖而出。他在20世纪70年代后期进入纯种马领域，并在1980年凭借《法典》赢得了他的第一个Preakness。
卢卡斯在纯种马比赛中有4967次记录在案的胜利，他的马从超过30600场比赛中获得了超过3.1亿美元的收入。
“今天，我们失去了丘吉尔唐斯最伟大的冠军之一和过去50年来纯种赛马中最重要的人物之一，”丘吉尔唐斯公司首席执行官比尔·卡斯坦延说。“我们会怀念他的幽默、智慧和在我们运动最重要的日子里用他的马的表演来激动球迷的无与伦比的能力。”
卢卡斯在过去十年中实现了职业复兴，他认为这归功于找到了愿意花钱买马的正确主人，他去年凭借《抓住灰色》赢得了普利茅斯奖。当被问及是什么激励他在将近80岁时还能继续做好自己的工作时，他给出了一个适合在大型比赛前在更衣室里说的鼓舞士气的话。
“如果你有激情，你会消除所有的借口，”卢卡斯说。“事情就是这样的。你起得很早。你不吃饭就走。你开车。你可以不睡觉——只要你有激情。不要让沙发拖垮你。当闹钟响起时，你很容易说，“哦，我的上帝，我不知道我今天是否真的想做这件事。”擦掉它。你一生中所做的最重要的决定是你的态度决定。早点做，做对的。"
Horse trainer D. Wayne Lukas, winner of 15 Triple Crown races, dies at 89
D. Wayne Lukas, the Hall of Famer who became one of the most accomplished trainers in the history of horse racing and a face of the sport for decades, has died. He was 89.
His family said Sunday that Lukas died Saturday night at his Louisville, Kentucky, home.Lukas had been hospitalizedwith a severe MRSA blood infection that caused significant damage to his heart and digestive system and worsened pre-existing chronic conditions.
“Wayne devoted his life not only to horses but to the industry — developing generations of horsemen and horsewomen and growing the game by inviting unsuspecting fans into the winner’s circle,” his family said in a statement. “Whether he was boasting about a maiden 2-year-old as the next Kentucky Derby winner or offering quiet words of advice before a big race, Wayne brought heart, grace, and grit to every corner of the sport. His final days were spent at home in Kentucky, where he chose peace, family, and faith.”
Lukas won 15 Triple Crown races, including the Kentucky Derby four times. Only good friend Bob Baffert has more Triple Crown victories, and Lukas owns a record-tying 20 in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
“The whole secret of this game, I think, is being able to read the horse: Read what he needs, what he doesn’t need, what he can’t do, what he can do,” Lukas said in May before his 34th and final Preakness Stakes. “That’s the whole key. Everybody’s got the blacksmith, everybody’s got to the same bed available, the feed man. We all can hire a good jockey. We all can hire a pretty good exercise rider if we’ve got the means, so what the hell is the difference? The horse is the difference and what we do with him in reading him.”
Lukas was affectionately known around the barns and the racetrack as “Coach” because he coached high school basketball before his professional career with horses began. Even with months to go before his 90th birthday, he would get up on his pony in the early morning hours and go out to the track himself, rather than letting his assistants do the day-to-day work.
Born Darnell Wayne Lukas on Sept. 2, 1935, in Wisconsin as the second of three children, he rose to prominence in the sport with quarter horses in races that are effectively sprints. He moved into thoroughbreds in the late 1970s and won his first Preakness with Codex in 1980.
Lukas has 4,967 documented victories in thoroughbred racing, with his horses earning more than $310 million from more than 30,600 starts.
"Today we lost one of the great champions of Churchill Downs and one of the most significant figures in Thoroughbred racing over the last 50 years,” Churchill Downs Inc. CEO Bill Carstanjen said. “We will miss his humor, his wisdom and his unmatched capacity to thrill the fans with the performances of his horses on our sport’s biggest days.”
Achieving something of a career renaissance over the past decade, one he credits to finding the right owners willing to spend money on horses, Lukas won the Preakness last year with Seize the Grey. Asked what motivates him to keep doing his job well into his late 80s, he gave a pep talk fit for a locker room before a big game.
“If you have a passion, you eliminate all the excuses,” Lukas said. “That’s how it works. You get up early. You go without a meal. You drive. You go without sleep — as long as you got the passion. Don’t let that sofa pull you down. It’s a little easy when that alarm goes off to say, ‘Oh my God, I don’t know if I really want to do this today.’ Erase that. The most important decision you’ll ever make in your life is your attitude decision. Make it early, and make the right one.”
