Lukas, Klein, and Stevens had met in the late afternoon the week of the 1988 Derby and discussed their plans for handling the negative comments about their female’s chances in the race.
Lukas told them, “Let’s let them talk all the negative crap they want about her. Let’s not let them know what we have in our girl. Maybe…just maybe…they will underestimate her and let us get an uncontested early lead.”
Stevens nodded in agreement and said, “The biggest knock I hear from the jockeys is they don’t think she can go the one-and-one-quarter mile distance. They think she’ll tire and quit.”
“Good. Let them think that…because if she gets an easy early lead she will kick their asses!” said Klein.
They all were feeling confident but agreed to just keep quiet.
The family of Gary Stevens had been to his first Kentucky Derby ride in 1985. His dad told him, “I don’t ever want to go back…too crowded and uncomfortable.”
However, in 1988, Gary told his entire family, “You have to come to this year’s race. I’m going to win it.”
So, they booked their tickets and hotels.
Jeff Lukas had planned the details of Winning Colors’ pre-race day. After a light jog around the track and her usual warm sponge bath, he took the halter away from Luis. Winning Colors was going to have a special treat—a slow walk, so she could graze on fresh grass along the road near the stable area. He thought it would calm and relax her. An accomplished horseman, Lukas kept his hands firmly on her halter lead while she put her head down to graze, happy to be out of her enclosed stall.
What happened next was a surprise.
A motorcycle went by on the road and backfired with a loud pop, just feet from her head. Startled, she bolted away from the frightening noise. Lukas was pulled off his feet by the 1,200-pound animal. He held on for his life as she careened toward the stable that was brimming with trucks, equipment, and other horses. His knees and elbows were torn up and bleeding as she dragged him, but he would not let go, fearing her start in the Derby would end in tragedy before her race. After he got her to pull up, he searched her body with his hands, feeling for a bump, cut, or signs of blood.
Unlike Lukas, she was no worse for the wear. He limped her back to Luis who grabbed her halter. Luis called for help for Jeff then took the horse back to her stall where he further inspected her head to toe, no injuries.
An assistant trainer who had witnessed the frightened horse drag Jeff around like a piece of meat and told other backstretch workers, “It took incredible guts for Jeff to hang on to her. Her Derby and career could have ended this morning.”
That night, Luis slept just outside of her stall in case she had any issues during the night.
Dino and Miami had taken great interest in the Friday running of the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, because the only horse to have beaten Winning Colors, Goodbye Halo, was the favorite. If Goodbye Halo lost to the top field of fillies, it would reflect negatively on the quality of Winning Colors.
During the Oaks race, they witnessed the exact opposite.
Goodbye Halo had been bet down to odds on, and when the gates opened, she devastated the other runners in the field by three-and-three-quarters lengths. The purse for the female race was only $242,600, compared to the purse for the Kentucky Derby the next day of $786,200. Considering that Winning Colors beat Goodbye Halo by over nine lengths in their last meeting at Santa Anita, it made Dino and Miami even more confident of Winning Colors’ talent. They were having trouble concentrating on betting the races that weekend; the chance of winning $250,000 on Winning Colors was their sole focus.
Well, that and staying alive to enjoy the money.
The morning of the Derby saw fans lining up to get in at 6:00 a.m., with the largest attendance of women the track had ever experienced. It’s possible that every woman in America was rooting for Winning Colors. Interest in and viewership of this race was way up because of the gray filly.
The Kentucky Derby was the eighth race on the Saturday card, which was fortunate for the revelers from the Friday night parties that ended after two a.m. The TV station NBC had their “A Team” of broadcasters on hand for feature interviews with Eugene and Joyce Klein, Gary Stevens, and D. Wayne Lukas.
Lukas was dressed to perfection in a dark suit, white shirt, and red tie, but acted less brash than normal when he said into the camera, “Given all the things that can happen, and especially the setbacks I’ve experienced in the Derby, I want to fall head over heels, but I am a little bit guarded. If she wins I’ll be won over completely…if she goes to the front on her own easily. Hopefully, we will get a Hollywood ending today.”
At approximately five p.m., the trainers and handlers led the Derby horses from the barn to the saddling arena. Many of the owners also made the long walk in the dirt with their horses. The owners knew this event was truly the chance of a lifetime, and they were blessed in a special way to make the historic walk with a talented horse.
Winning Colors was disinterested in the crowd and the noise level but was open to biting other horses when the opportunity presented itself. She pranced around and occasionally darted at the colts. She was calm and steady, with her head held high as Luis
