Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas worked both LUV GOV (Ten Most Wanted) and
FLYING PRIVATE (Fusaichi Pegasus) Wednesday morning at Churchill Downs, and will
send both in the 141st running of the $1 million Belmont S. (G1) on June 6.
Marylou Whitney Stable’s Luv Gov worked in company with Kentucky Oaks (G1) fourth-placer BE FAIR
(Exchange Rate) at 6 a.m. (EDT) on the fast main track in Louisville, Kentucky,
with Be Fair posting a time of 1:12 and Luv Gov going in 1:12 2/5. Westrock
Stables’ Be Fair is scheduled to run in the $300,000 Acorn S. (G1) sending
sophomore fillies a mile on Belmont Stakes Day.
Luv Gov, who is by 2003 Belmont runner-up and Travers S. (G1) winner Ten Most
Wanted, has only one win in 11 starts and exits an eighth-place finish in the
May 16 Preakness S. (G1) at Pimlico.
At 8:30 a.m., Robert C. Baker and William L. Mack’s Flying Private worked in
company with maiden Sea Admiral (Distorted Humor), breezing six furlongs in 1:15
2/5 while his workmate was timed in 1:16 1/5. Flying Private was fourth in the
Preakness, beaten four lengths by RACHEL ALEXANDRA (Medaglia d’Oro).
“Of course, we pointed to the Belmont all spring long, but as the race gets
closer, you want to see horses show you something,” said Lukas, who has won four
Belmonts with Tabasco Cat (1994), Thunder Gulch (1995), Editor’s Note (1996) and
Commendable (2000).
Lukas, who has not had a Belmont Stakes starter since 2005 when A. P. Arrow
ran fifth, listed Luv Gov and Flying Private as questionable for the Belmont
earlier this week and said he would decide their status after they worked.
“This morning, we were more concerned about their energy level than with how
they finished out,” said Lukas, who will arrive with his horses on Sunday. “And
we got the response we wanted.
“Also, I wanted to talk to Bob Baker and Bill Mack (owners of Flying
Private). They are both New Yorkers and they both want to be at the Belmont.
We’re going to run, but, unfortunately, they’ll be somewhere in Europe having
dinner with some prime minister.”
Baker and Mack are both involved in real estate and have been long-time
clients of Lukas. Along with David Cornstein, they owned Proud Citizen,
runner-up in the Kentucky Derby (G1), third in the Preakness S. (G1) and fifth
in the Belmont in 2002.
Lukas added that he will run Thomas F. Van Meter II’s SILVER EDITION (Silver
Deputy) on Belmont Stakes Day in the $250,000 True North H. (G2) at six
furlongs. The four-year-old bay was beaten a head by Ravalo (Mutakddim) on
Preakness Day, May 16, at Pimlico in the Maryland Sprint H. (G3) going the same
distance.