Why Lukas went downhill

[Rupert Pupkin]

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

I know what Mandella has won, but it could go both ways. Lukas has won BC Classics, Distaffs, Sprints, Miles all with older. I agree wholeheartedly with what you are saying about Mandella, Drysdale and Frankel. I may be a bit off with the number of older that Pletcher has, but I would bet it is no more than 1/3 of his operation, and that's how Lukas used to be. My point, and it was not to argue, was Baffert and Pletcher, to a slight degree are the same kind of trainer Lukas is, therefore their older horse numbers will never be the same with guys like Mandella or Frankel. Just like Mandella will never have the same kinds of numbers with 2 and 3 year olds as baffert and Lukas.

Baffert is somewhere in between. He is much harder on his horses than Mandella, Drysdale, Frankel, or Pletcher. Baffert works his horses very fast and they don't last nearly as long as the horses of those guys. But Baffert will stop on horses. You will see him turn horses out. He won't just keep running them after they have started to go bad. That is the big difference between him and Lukas. Baffert won't do nearly as well with older horses as Frankel and those guys, but he will do better than Lukas.

I think that Pletcher's numbers with older horses are just as good as Mandella and those guys. Pletcher is amazing. He does great in every category. He even does great with turf horses.