Wayne Lukas lost a candidate for the Kentucky Derby when his Deeds Not Words ran third Sunday in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., while Touch Gold was winning by 8 1/2 lengths.
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As a result, the Kentucky Derby might be run May 3 without a horse saddled by Lukas, who has won the last two Derbys and seven of the last eight Triple Crown races. The trainer has discounted reports that he is trying to buy Concerto from George Steinbrenner, and any such deal was believed to be dead after Concerto won the Federico Tesio Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico and his stablemate Acceptable broke a bone in his left foreleg during a workout at Keeneland.
Touch Gold, carrying only 115 pounds and traveling around two turns for the first time, ran the 1 1/16 miles in a moderate 1:43 1/5 under Gary Stevens and paid $8.60 to win. Smoke Glacken, the 3-5 favorite, finished a distant second.
It wasn’t a bad day for Lukas, however. Marlin, saddled by his son Jeff and ridden by late replacement Eddie Delahoussaye, won the Grade I San Juan Capistrano Handicap on the Santa Anita turf. Marlin’s regular rider, Chris McCarron, slightly injured his shoulder earlier Sunday when he was thrown by his mount in the fourth race.