John Bellinger

When Hall of Famer Wayne Lukas sends out Just Steel (Justify) in this year's GI Kentucky Derby it will be his first starter in the race since 2018. Lukas, 88, is a perpetual optimist, but even he had to be worrying that he had had his last Derby starter. It wasn't Lukas. Even at his age he never slowed down. It was the sport's top owners. Many wouldn't send a horse to an octogenarian, knocking on the door of 90, even one considered to be one of the greatest trainers...

To most people, 88 is just a number. But to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, it already holds special meaning. It was the year he famously collected his first Kentucky Derby win, with a filly no less. The amazon Winning Colors became only the third filly in history to accomplish the feat. Armed with B C Stable's Just Steel (Justify) for the latest renewal, a win would also earn the 88-year-old Lukas the distinction of becoming the oldest trainer to win the Classic in its 150-year history. Since...

The team at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company does everything it can to run a clean sale. Under OBS's conditions of sale, no medication may be administered within 24 hours of a horse's under-tack performance, 10 to 15% of the horses who are going to sell are tested, and in 2019, OBS prohibited the use of bronchodilators like Clenbuterol at all of its sales. It may not be enough. The Jeffrey Englehart story has suggested that may be the case. Englehart bought a Classic Empire colt at the OBS auction...

The student or the teacher? It was going to come down to one or the other as the second race at Saratoga Saturday, a six-furlong maiden special weight, developed into a stretch battle between the Wayne Lukas-trained Just Steel (Justify) and the Todd Pletcher-trained Be You (Curlin). At the wire, it was Just Steel who had his nose in front, showing once again that the 87-year-old Hall of Famer still knows how to get it done. "You can't let the kids beat you," Lukas said. "You've got to get them...

They may just have five 2-year-olds in their budding stable, but John Bellinger and Brian Coelho of BC Stables are off to a fast start under the expert guidance of trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Their third starter became their first winner and what a winner she was! The stable's lone filly Summer Promise (Uncle Mo) romped to 'TDN Rising Stardom' in her debut at Churchill Downs Saturday. "She is a special filly," said Bellinger, who was in the winner's circle Saturday with his wife Gina. "Wayne was in Ohio for...