D. Wayne Lukas
THIS YEAR’S TRIPLE THREAT: Jockey Gary Stevens (above), who will ride Oxbow, trained by D. Wayne Lukas (inset) in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes, believes there is a “very good chance” Kentucky Derby winner Orb can win the Triple Crown. (Jason Szenes; Getty Images)
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas, 77, and jockey Gary Stevens, 50, are Hall-of-Fame legends who have teamed up to win some of thoroughbred racing’s premier events, including a pair of Kentucky Derbys with Winning Colors and Thunder Gulch. They hope to add another notch in their belts with a colt named Oxbow in Saturday’s 138th Preakness Stakes.
Lukas, with five Preakness victories from 37 starters, and Stevens, with two from 16 mounts, know what it takes to win the Pimlico classic. But they also realize that Oxbow — sixth in the Derby, beaten 9 3/4 lengths by Orb — faces a tough task trying to upset the Derby winner’s applecart in the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.
“We are all going to have to get better to beat him,” said Lukas, who will also saddle Will Take Charge and Titletown Five in the race. “I think the Preakness will be the biggest hurdle for him for the Triple Crown. If he gets by that, he gets to go back home to Belmont and run right out of his stall [in the June 8 Belmont Stakes].”
Stevens, who launched a comeback in January after being “retired” for seven years, has won two-thirds of the Triple Crown three times — with Thunder Gulch (who lost the Preakness), Silver Charm (who lost the Belmont) and Point Given (who lost the Derby). Stevens also derailed Real Quiet’s Triple Crown bid when he beat him a nose with Victory Gallop in the “Test of the Champion,” so he understands what a difficult achievement it is.
Yet when asked if he thought we will ever see another Triple Crown winner — it’s been 35 years since Affirmed last accomplished that feat — Stevens responded, “I think we have a very good chance of seeing one. Orb was a fresh horse after the Derby, and I don’t know what I’m going to do to turn the tables.
“What you’ve got to hope is that Orb doesn’t show up the same horse that he did for the Derby, and that he may have some traffic problems. Because I’m going to be flat honest, we’re all up against it. I liked what I saw in the winner, and I think he’s still improving. That’s kind of a scary thought.”
A powerful, headstrong son of Awesome Again, Oxbow has had an up-and-down year. After winning the Lecomte by 11 1/2 lengths, he just missed in the Risen Star and Rebel after taking the lead in the stretch, but then was fifth the first time Stevens rode him in the Arkansas Derby.
“I found out you can’t reach up and take a big hold of him,” Stevens said. “You’ve got to make him happy.”
In the Kentucky Derby, Oxbow chased the blazing early pace, then made a bold bid up the rail heading into the far turn.
“Just before we entered the stretch, I thought to myself, ‘man, I’m going to win my fourth Derby,’ ” Stevens said. “The feeling only lasted for three or four seconds, but the thing that most impressed me is, he was the only one of the six horses that was part of that heated battle early on that stuck around to the end of the race.”
That effort gives Stevens hope, however slim, that he can turn the tables Saturday.
“The tough part about it is, I feel a lot like I did when I was riding Victory Gallop against Real Quiet,” he said. “You’re paid to go out there and try to beat them and devise any way that you can to beat them, and I’m trying to do that now. That’s my job. But you can bet that if I’m getting passed by horses [in the stretch], I’m going to root for that other horse [Orb].”