Bio for Flying Private
Profile by Randy Goulding
Earnings: $259,080
Strengths: Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has won this race four times and not just with favorites. Lukas's last win in the Belmont was in 2000 with 18-1 shot Commendable, so don't let the likely big price scare you away if you are headed in this direction. Jockey Julien Leparoux consistently moves up horses, and it is a big plus having him aboard for the first time. Flying Private also seems to have some versatility to him. He didn't show a lot of early interest in either the Kentucky Derby or Preakness, but he has some tactical speed and this would be a good spot to use it.
Weaknesses: He has been a pretty busy horse this year and he hasn't been able to win a race in eight starts. There also is a good chance he will bounce after posting his career-best Beyer Speed Figure in the Preakness. Other than the Preakness, his races just don't stack up, and he would need another career-best performance in order to win. It is hard to see that happening with this many races behind him.
Strategy: Leparoux is a master at getting a horse to relax early, and it would nice to see him put Flying Private in a stalking position early.
Value: Following his poor performance in the Derby, it was a bit surprising that he was only 25-1 in the Preakness. He did run a big race, however, and trip handicappers will find him attractive in the Belmont.
ROBERT C. BAKER/WILLIAM L. MACK
Baker, who deals in real estate, and his wife, Christina, of Greenwich, Ct. have been involved in racing for more than 30 years and have raced several stakes winners in partnerships with Howard Kaskel, owner of Sugar Maple Farm in Poughquag, N.Y. With Kaskel, their stakes winners include 1987 Irish Derby winner Sir Harry Lewis and New York graded-stakes winner Champagneforashely.
Mack also deals in real estate and has raced a number of stakes winners. A graduate of NYU, he attended the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he has since served on the Board of Overseers and as vice chairman of the Board of Trustees.
D. WAYNE LUKAS
A member of racing’s Hall of Fame since 1999, Lukas won the Eclipse Award as Top Trainer four times - 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1994. He has won 13 Triple Crown races, taking the Kentucky Derby four times (filly Winning Colors in 1988, Thunder Gulch in 1995, Grindstone in 1996 and Charismatic in 1999); the Preakness five times (Codex in 1980, Tank’s Prospect in 1985, Tabasco Cat in 1994, Timber Country in 1995 and Charismatic in 1999) and the Belmont Stakes four times (Tabasco Cat in 1994, Thunder Gulch in 1995, Editor’s Note in 1996 and Commendable in 2000). He has not had a Belmont starter since 2005 (A.P. Arrow, 5th). Lukas, a native of Wisconsin, worked as an assistant basketball coach at the University of Wisconsin for two years and coached high school for nine years while training quarter-horses. He turned to training Thoroughbreds on a full-time basis in 1978.
JULIEN LEPAROUX
Leparoux, who came from France to work as an exercise rider for Patrick Biancone in 2003, started riding in 2005 at Saratoga, scoring his first winner on Aug. 18 there with Eastern Guardian. Winner of the Eclipse Award as an apprentice in 2006, he led the nation in victories the same year with 403. In 2008, in his only Belmont Stakes start, he finished third in a dead-heat aboard Anak Nakal.