It`s not a mythical championship voted on by the press,'' said D. Wayne Lukas. ''It`s a street fight on the racetrack.
''I think we`re in good shape.''
The ''street fight'' is next Saturday`s 115th Kentucky Derby.
Lukas` words were spoken immediately after Houston, the colt he trains, prepared for the impending rumble by swaggering past five opponents in Saturday`s Derby Trial.
This was the Houston who`d been invincible in the first three starts of his career before staggering across the finish line a distant fifth in the Santa Anita Derby on April 8.
''I expected him to run a good race, and he did,'' said Lukas, who won last year`s Kentucky Derby with Winning Colors. ''And now, we have the advantage of a race over the track.
''He was very relaxed off the pace-that`s a positive thing-and he never turned a hair in the paddock.''
If the Santa Anita battered Houston`s self-confidence, the Derby Trial was an ego trip. Racing far off the rail on a track that was labeled ''good'' following heavy rain during the night, he ran second for the opening half-mile of the one-mile race. On the far turn, he powered past pacesetting Pulverizing and swiftly gained complete control.
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