2010 Eclipse Award Champion Three-Year-Old Male
May 27 - Lookin' At Lucky
Lookin’ At Lucky could change his name to Lookin’ At Hard Luck. I think those in the know that follow horse racing closely will tell you that leading up to the 2010 Kentucky Derby Lookin’ At Lucky was the best three-year-old in the country. He was a huge favorite for the Kentucky Derby until the instant his name was drawn into post number 1 in a field of 20 horses. The 1 hole has become a black hole and recognized as being the least desired gate position. Add to that the 19 horses trying to get to the rail and bury you in the pack. 2010 was a muddy quagmire, which meant getting pinned on the rail at the start was going to be like running in quicksand. The best that the best horse could do was finish fifth. He was able to provide a little redemption two weeks later when he won the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown but alas, no one is ever going to confuse the Preakness with the Kentucky Derby. If you own and race so much as one thoroughbred, you would get asked by some well-intended person in the general public, if you ever won the Kentucky Derby but never if you won the Preakness. Sorry, telling it like it is.
Lookin’ At Lucky was trained by Bob Baffert for one of his longest tenured clients, Mike Pegram. Mike has his fingers in several business ventures now including a casino in Nevada, but his first mound of money came from his McDonald's franchises, and yes, the color of his silks is the same as McDonald's. Yeah, that's Lucky in the red and yellow in the front of this pack of horses in the painting.
This painting was the main feature of the first printing of A Brush With Greatness. I've mentioned how the book has quotes from the connections of each horse. Mike was always promising to get something for me in the way of a quote, but weeks turned into months. Finally, it was September, and I was painting at Keeneland at my usual outpost on the back deck in the hamburger smoke and by the bar. Through the smoke I could see Mike with a beer. Remember this is the guy that raced a horse named "Silverbulletday", a tip of the cap to his favorite beer, Coors' Light. I choked my way through the very tasty smoke and Mike saw me emerging from the other side like a Ghostzapper colt. Mike smiled big before I even got to him "So, you want a quote, right?" He knew why I was haunting him. “Yeah. Ok, here's your quote, “Bob (Baffert) calls me up and says, 'hey, remember all those horses we lost all that money on?', well, I just bought you another one that's going to make it all back' and that was Lookin’ At Lucky." It ends up being one of my favorite quotes in the book.
I still say, if Lucky gets any other post, Super Saver would've had a bit more work to do in the Derby.
Lookin At Lucky was a brilliant champion who took the top juvenile honor and then came back to claim a classic the next year. He was foaled in 2007 and trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert for owners Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman. His sire was the great Smart Strike, and his dam was Private Feeling, a daughter of Belong to Me. He was a striking dark bay colt with the kind of grit and class that showed up year after year.
Lookin At Lucky put together one of the best two year old seasons of the 2000s in 2009. He won the Del Mar Futurity, the Norfolk Stakes, and the CashCall Futurity at Hollywood Park, sweeping the major California juvenile stakes. He ran second in the 2009 Breeders Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita after a rough trip, but the rest of his year had been so strong that voters named him the Eclipse Award Champion Two Year Old Colt for 2009.
His three year old year was filled with bad trips and tough beats. He came into the 2010 Kentucky Derby as the favorite, but he drew the rail and got mauled by a wide field of 19 horses. He finished sixth behind Super Saver in a race many fans thought he had run a winning race in if not for the trouble. Two weeks later in the 2010 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, the script changed. Ridden by jockey Martin Garcia, Lookin At Lucky got a clean trip, ran to the lead in the stretch, and held off First Dude to win the second leg of the Triple Crown. Bob Baffert had his fifth Preakness Stakes trophy.
He came back later that summer and won the 2010 Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, beating top three year olds. He retired with 7 wins from 13 starts and earnings of nearly 3.3 million dollars. He was named the 2010 Eclipse Award Champion Three Year Old Colt, becoming one of the few horses to win Eclipse championships in back to back years. Lookin At Lucky went to stud at Coolmore's Ashford Stud and shuttled to South America, where he became a leading sire. He is remembered as a true champion with both the talent and the toughness to win at the highest level.
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