Wayne Lukas began training quarter horses in 1976, eventually moved to thoroughbreds, and has 15 Triple Crown race wins on his Hall of Fame resume, including four in the Kentucky Derby.
Even after he won his seventh Preakness Stakes (G1) with Seize the Grey a year ago, Lukas still recalls where it all began.
Caldera breaks through with the First Win
“My absolute fondest memories, without a doubt, are of my days with quarter horses in the Southwest,” Lukas has said. “Goliad, Sunland Park, Ruidoso – those were great times; nothing like ‘em.”
Lukas’ presence will be felt again at Sunland Park on Sunday when the 89-year-old trainer sends Caldera in the $400,000 Sunland Park Derby.
The 1 1/16-mile Sunland Park Derby is one of the Kentucky Derby prep races, with the top five finishers earning 20-10-6-4-2 points on a sliding scale.
Caldera, a son of Liam’s Map, broke his maiden at third asking, winning by 5 ½ lengths going 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park on Jan. 25. The gray colt ran sixth behind Speed King in his Nov. 1 debut at Churchill Downs, then ran second on Dec. 13 at Oaklawn.
Caldera is the 5-1 fourth choice on the morning line in a field of nine 3-year-olds. Bob Baffert-trained Getaway Car is the 9-5 morning line favorite, McKinzie Street is the 7-2 second choice, and Touchy is 4-1.
“He showed up like we expected,” Lukas said after Caldera’s win. “We've had high hopes for this horse and liked him from the start. He had a couple of questionable trips, but the other day, he put it all together.”
Rafael Bejarano returns to ride Caldera again, leaving from outside post 9. A solid effort here gives Lukas another chance to Run for the Roses.
The horse to beat is Getaway Car, who avoids highly-regarded stablemates Citizen Bull and Gaming. Last out, Getaway Car ran second to Journalism in the Los Alamitos Futurity (G2). He’s also finished fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and second in the American Pharoah Stakes (G1), both won by Citizen Bull.
McKinzie Street enters the race with a new trainer, Justin Evans, who takes over for Tim Yakteen. The colt has been beaten several times by Baffert’s top colts – second to Gaming in the Del Mar Futurity (G1), third behind Citizen Bull and Getaway Car in the American Pharoah, and most recently fifth behind Baffert’s Barnes in the San Vicente Stakes (G2).
Last year, Stronghold won the race and captured the Santa Anita Derby (G1) before running seventh in the Kentucky Derby.
Post time for the Sunland Park Derby is 6:17 p.m. ET.
1 Itsmybirthday (Harry Hernandez, Robertino Diodoro), 20-1
2 Remember Big Jim (Elvin Gonzalez, Dick Cappellucci), 12-1
3 Smash It (Florent Geroux, Todd Fincher), 12-1
4 Getaway Car (Juan Hernandez, Bob Baffert), 9-5
5 Spenard (Luis Valenzuela, Tena Birdwell), 20-1
6 Take Charge Tom (O Mojica, Robertino Diodoro), 8-1
7 McKinzie Street (Ramon Vazquez, Justin Evans), 4-1
8 Touchy (Joel Rosario, Wesley Ward), 7-2
9 Caldera (Rafael Bejarano, D. Wayne Lukas), 5-1
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
