Derby Week has kept its familiar rhythm this spring at Churchill Downs, with Kentucky Derby (G1) and Kentucky Oaks (G1) contenders taking to the track each morning under the watchful eyes of their trainers, some of them atop ponies.
Yet someone is unmistakably absent at the Louisville, Ky., track in 2026: "The Coach," D. Wayne Lukas, the four-time Derby-winning conditioner who died last summer at age 89. Across five decades—beginning in 1981 and continuing through last year, when his horse American Promise finished 16th in the Derby—the landscape-shaping Hall of Fame trainer was often a regular participant in North America's most famous horse race.
READ: Hall of Fame Trainer Lukas Dies at Age 89
"It's not the same without him," said fellow Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, one of many accomplished horsemen to emerge from Lukas' extensive coaching tree. "I mean, this is what he lived for. He identified a long time ago how important these Triple Crown races and Breeders' Cup races are. And he thrived in those settings."
Only Pletcher, a two-time Derby winner, has started more horses in the Derby than Lukas, who sent out 51 runners. Favored Renegade is scheduled to become Pletcher's 66th Derby starter this year.
Echoes of Lukas' success remain in his longtime stable, Barn 44, now occupied by horses trained by Mike Maker—appropriately, another former Lukas assistant.
Maker said Churchill Downs officials reached out to him and fellow trainer Dallas Stewart, who preceded Maker as one of Lukas' main assistants, to gauge if they would like to move their horses into Barn 44, where they each had worked before starting their own careers.
"We both, of course, said, 'Yes,'" Maker said.
A shake—a horse racing term for a random draw—determined who would take over the space, he said. Maker, known for winning shakes as one of the country's most successful claiming trainers, naturally won it.
He has since made the barn his own while preserving its history. In the office now used by the trainer, Lukas' initials—"WL"—remain etched beside the office window, intentionally left untouched.
To further honor his former boss, photographs of some of Lukas' major victories line the office walls alongside Maker's own equine achievements. Among them are images from Breeders' Cup wins by Lukas trainees Cat Thief and Orientate, as well as a scene from the first Saturday in May 1999. In that photo, a young Maker is in the Churchill Downs winner's circle with his hand on the rump of Charismatic, as Lukas stands near owners Bob and Beverly Lewis following the colt's upset in the American classic.
Charismatic became Lukas's fourth and final Derby winner following Winning Colors (1988), Thunder Gulch (1995), and Grindstone (1996).
Recalling Charismatic's arrival in Kentucky in the spring of the colt's 3-year-old season, Maker said, "He came from California. And you know, Wayne was his usual optimistic self. … I worked a lot with Cat Thief when he came in as a 2-year-old, and Cat Thief was my pick. Of course, I was wrong."
Overbrook Farm's Cat Thief ran third behind Charismatic in the Derby, though by year's end, he would win another prestigious prize: the 1999 Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at Gulfstream Park.
Also displayed in the Maker's office to the left of his desk is a photo of Lukas on horseback, bearing the caption: "D. Wayne Lukas, a Living Legend."
That image serves as a reminder of his influence, not that Pletcher and Maker need it.
Pletcher, asked what stuck most with him, replied, "So many things, but you know, attention to detail makes a difference. That was one of his many mottos. He felt like every little detail led to bigger success."
