The sparse crowd at Belmont Park was soggy and subdued yesterday on a wet, dreary afternoon. How different the atmosphere will be 12 days from now, Belmont Stakes day, June 5, when Charismatic bids to become the 12th Triple Crown winner and first since Affirmed in 1978.
All 22,000 seats are already sold out. So after 80,162 came to see Real Quiet shoot for the Triple Crown last year and 70,782 showed up for Silver Charm the year before, another huge crowd is expected.
As the historic moment approaches, Charismatic’s trainer D. Wayne Lukas is taking it in stride. Speaking from his barn at Santa Anita, he was quietly confident but fully aware that since Affirmed, all six horses who won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness flunked the 1-mile “Test of the Champion.”
“Charismatic [who is stabled at Churchill Downs] is doing super,” Lukas said. “He seems to be bright and is having a very, very good week.”
Since the Preakness, Charismatic has just been galloping in the mornings but Lukas plans to give him a five-furlong “maintenance work” tomorrow, followed by a stiffer drill next week before he flies to New York.
‘I just want to get a good, solid move in him [today],” he said. “The second one will be orchestrated a little tougher.”
The Belmont will be Charismatic’s fifth start in nine weeks but that’s “not a concern,” Lukas said.
Lukas has won 12 Triple Crown races, including six in a row, but this is the first time he’s going for a sweep with the same horse. It’s the highlight of what’s turning out to be a very strong spring for the 63-year-old former basketball coach from Antigo, Wisc.
The week of the Derby his long-overdue election to the Hall of Fame was announced, and any day now – possibly when he runs Cat Thief in the Met Mile Saturday – Lukas will become racing’s first $200-million man. As of yesterday his career bankroll stood at $199,429,035.
“I’m amazed the industry is so oblivious to the fact,” he said. “They stop races when a jockey hits 2,000 wins and that happens all the time. But earning $200 million is something that’s never been done. Not even close.”
Given the roll Lukas is on, combined with the comeback story of jockey Chris Antley and the fact owners Bob and Beverly Lewis are making their second run at the Triple Crown in three years despite losing future-book Derby favorite Exploit to injury, you have to wonder: Is Charismatic the horse of destiny?
“I don’t know about that,” Lukas said. “He was in the right spot at the right time and so are we. We go at it every year with a lot of optimism and this horse obviously is carrying us. We have always liked him better than [the media]. He’s not as big a surprise as you guys have made it. We’ve been on the inside looking in and felt good about him all spring.”
Addressing the lack of respect Charismatic, a former claiming horse, got after winning the Derby, Lukas said, “I think he made a quantum leap in the Preakness with his dominance of that race. With time, it will come full cycle. Respect is earned.”
But don’t expect to hear any Joe Namath-like assurances of victory.
“Some great horses have gone into the Belmont that couldn’t pull it off, like Sunday Silence, Alysheba and Spectacular Bid,” Lukas said. “It’s a humbling, hard-to-achieve goal.”