Derby week fun

Standing outside D. Wayne Lukas's barn at 8:15 a.m. Sunday morning, a colleague and I were awaiting the onslaught of Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks contenders, a group that has had the track to itself beginning at 8:30 a.m. each day.

Lukas's heavy lifting was already done for the day, as he had sent Dublin for an early morning workout. Still, the Lukas barn is near the gap and basking in the glow of one of the game's most successful trainers wasn't a bad place to spend a cool and misty Sunday morning.

Enter an unidentified older gentleman smoking what appeared to be a silver cigarillo.

"Lukas is the best," he said.

"Who?" I countered.

"D. Wayne Lukas."

"I don't know who that is."

"You ain't never heard of D. Wayne Lukas? Look at all those Derby winners" (points to facade of barn that lists Winning Colors, Thunder Gulch, etc.

"Oh, you mean Bob Baffert."

"Bob Baffert ain't done what he [Lukas] done. I suppose you ain't never heard of Bill Mott either."

"It rings a bell. Is he anything like Woody Stephens."

Then a big smile crept across his face as he realized I was just having a little fun with him.

I think Baffert joins Lukas as a four-time winner come Saturday night.