Horses previously trained by D. Wayne Lukas, who died on June 28, will not be trained by his former assistant, Sebastian “Bas” Nicholl moving forward as Nicholl has decided not to pursue his own training career.
“I decided not to continue as a racehorse trainer. I do plan to continue as an assistant trainer,” Nicholl told Daily Racing Form Tuesday afternoon. “It was a personal decision, not something I really want to discuss. It was a very amicable decision, everyone’s all good friends. We’re going to go ahead and move on.”
Nicholl said the final horses left Lukas’s old Churchill Downs barn on Tuesday and are being dispersed to other trainers. Nicholl said he has received a number of offers to work as an assistant trainer, but he is currently helping the Lukas family with everything involving the Lukas estate and will seek those opportunities later.
Nicholl has been part of the Lukas team since 2002. Since Lukas’s passing, Nicholl ran four horses in his name at Ellis Park, including Innovator, who finished second in a first-level allowance race on July 13. Nicholl’s last starter was Rip Cord, a 2-year-old colt who finished ninth on Saturday.
Both Innovator and Rip Cord are owned by BC Stables, which is sending 15 horses, including Innovator, to Steve Asmussen. Eleven of those 15 horses are 2-year-olds, Asmussen said Tuesday.
BC Stables, the nom de course of John Bellinger and Brian Coelho, own American Promise, the Virigina Derby winner who finished 16th in the Kentucky Derby and eighth in the Preakness. That horse is currently on the farm, Asmussen said.
Eddie Kane, racing manager for Calumet Farm, said his operation has moved horses previously trained by Lukas to trainers Eoin Harty, Rusty Arnold, and Brendan Walsh.
Ashcroft, last in the Grade 1 Stephen Foster and Pianissima, a 2-year-old California-bred filly who finished last at Churchill on debut, both owned by Debra Barkley, have been moved to trainer Bob Hess at Del Mar.
At the Fasig-Tipton horses of racing age sale on July 8, six horses previously in the care of Lukas went through the ring, bringing a total of $939,000.
Lukas, one of the most influential trainers in the game, died as the result of a severe bacterial infection.
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