By Tim Wilkin
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y. – Before summer at Saratoga began, eternally young Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas was confident his young horses would make him proud before the 40-day meet ended on Labor Day.
The clock is ticking.
Lukas has had one disappointment after another with his 2-year-olds.
“I thought that a couple of them that I liked would have broken their maidens by now,” Lukas said, sitting in his office at his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. “I was looking for one of them to jump up and maybe run in the Hopeful.”
Lukas, who will turn 89 on Sept. 2, isn't one to give up. He plans on running several of his youngsters before the meet ends on Labor Day.
Among them are Trading Secrets (Authentic), who was sixth in a maiden on July 21 and ninth on Aug. 15. The filly was an $800,000 purchase at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale; colt American Promise (Justify), sixth on July 27, and a $750,000 buy at the 2023 Keeneland; colt Innovator (Authentic), who was second on July 14 and Aug. 11 and went for $900,000 at the 2023 Keeneland September Sale; filly Going Steady (Constitution), eighth on July 14 and second on Aug. 11 and a home bred.
Lukas also said he has colt Code of Justice (Into Mischief), who went for $850,000 at the 2023 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, who he hopes will debut before the meet ends.
Lukas sat the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes out with his GI Preakness Stakes winner Seize the Grey (Arrogate) after it was announced by the ownership group MyRacehorse that the colt would make his next start in the $1-million GI Pennsylvania Derby at Parx.
Lukas had said that it would have been his preference to run Seize the Grey in both of them.
“I am comfortable with where he is going,” Lukas said about the Pennsylvania Derby. “That is a nice race, equal price, or damn near. That is a good spot.”
Lukas said that he will leave Seize the Grey in Saratoga until shipping to Parx about a week before the Sept. 21 Pennsylvania Derby.
Trainer Walden Has Had a Strong Saratoga, Hoping For a Few More
Will Walden | Tod Marks
In another week, trainer Will Walden will pack up his Saratoga barn and point his car toward Turfway Park in Florence, Ky. Walden will be leaving fulfilled because he had a solid rookie season with the horses at the Spa.
With Travers Day completed, Walden has four wins in 10 starts, not bad for a guy who is in the middle of his third year as a trainer.
“We have been very fortunate,” Walden said Saturday morning by phone. “We brought up horses that we thought would be competitive at the meet. We have a great team in place. And we have gotten some great rides and had some good racing luck.”
Walden said he started the meet with nine horses and currently has six. Before packing up the Saratoga barn, he plans on running a couple first-time starters next week.
“Just winning one race at Saratoga is tough,” Walden said. “Everyone likes their horse at Saratoga. My team has worked very hard to earn every single one of those wins.”
Walden, the son of former trainer Elliott Walden, the President and CEO of WinStar Farm, grew up with the horses. Now 33, Walden had a much-publicized battle with addiction, one that started when he was 18 and lasted for a dozen years.
Now sober, Will Walden is grateful that he was able to come out on the right side after being addicted to heroin and cocaine as well as alcohol.
“I thought I was going to die a drug addicted felon,” Walden said. “Honestly, that is a sad thing to say. I had a lot of people that fought for me until I was ready to fight for me.”
Walden is married to Tessa, who has been an assistant to trainer Brad Cox for about eight years. They have a 16-month-old son, Wade, and a baby girl on the way.
He is still learning this game from the training side and does not hesitate to call on well-established names in the game.
Hall of Famers Bill Mott (who Walden worked for) and Todd Pletcher as well as Cox have been more than willing to share knowledge when Walden calls on them. He listens. He soaks in all they say.
Moving forward, he used a horse racing term to sum it all up.
“We try to focus, with the blinkers on, with what is in front of us,” he said.
Sanford Winner Mo Plex Ready to Go in Funny Cide On Sunday
Mo Plex | Sarah Andrew
When last seen, Mo Plex (Complexity), a New York-bred, was winning the GIII Sanford Stakes for 2-year-old colts on July 13.
Jeremiah Englehart, his trainer, thought long and hard about what might be next for his budding star. Well, not that hard.
Englehart has been pointing Mo Plex to the $200,000 Funny Cide on Sunday, part of the New York Racing Association's New York Showcase Day. Mo Plex, who will be ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr., just as he had in his first two starts.
“He seems like he is coming into this race well,” Englehart said outside his barn at the Annex across from the Oklahoma Training Track. “Actually, he is doing great.”
Mo Plex won the Sanford by a length after dominating his maiden by 10 lengths.
After the Sanford, Englehart thought about waiting for the GI Hopeful Stakes on Labor Day, but thought the Funny Cide would be the better spot at this point of Mo Plex's career.
“It might be a little bit easier, thinking he might have lighter competition in the New York-bred race,” Englehart said. “This race is tough. The (Mike) Maker horses (Under Who's Radar (Violence); Smilensaycheese (Solomini) look tough. Some of the horses that will be in the Hopeful look very tough. The timing of the race and the fact he ran a really strong race in the Sanford … this was the right move.”
If Mo Plex, who is the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the 10-horse Funny Cide, wins the six-furlong race, Englehart will start entertaining ways to get him to the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar in November.
“One more race would be the plan,” Englehart said. “We would like to stretch him out and go two turns and get that question answered. It all depends on what happens Sunday.”
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