Lukas, Stevens still crave reaching the winner's circle

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – D. Wayne Lukas and Gary Stevens know what it's like hearing the roar of the crowd and inhaling the intoxicating scent from dozens of red roses in the Kentucky Derby winner's circle.

At their advanced ages, they want to feel it all again.

On Saturday, they will make another run at winning America's greatest race, and if experience counts, this duo might have an edge.

Lukas and Stevens are teaming up with Oxbow, while the trainer considered the sport's elder statesman also will saddle Will Take Charge. The colts will be Lukas' 46th and 47th Derby starters, the most of any trainer in the race's 138-year history. He has won it four times, but not since 1999.

"I don't feel any different from when I came in here at 50. There's still the adrenaline rush. There's still the enthusiasm," Lukas said. "The horse is the most important ingredient. You better have the horse and then some luck."

Stevens has ridden in 18 Derbies and won three times, including twice with Lukas -- 1988 aboard the filly Winning Colors and 1995 with Thunder Gulch. The 50-year-old jockey is four months into a comeback after being retired for seven years.

At 77, Lukas would be the oldest trainer to win the Derby.

Stevens considers Lukas to be a second father, while the trainer's only son, Jeff, is like a brother.

"There's definitely a mutual respect," the jockey said. "We're both highly motivated. We haven't lost our need for big moments. Wayne is able to transmit that enthusiasm level to his whole team. I've been part of the team for a long time."

Stevens resumed riding in early January, the same week he got a call from Lukas advising him that the trainer had a couple of promising 3-year-old colts who could make the Derby.

"I was kind of thinking, 'Yeah right, wouldn't that be great,' and here we are," said Stevens, who juggles his duties as a racing TV commentator with his riding commitments.

He had quit in 2005, driven out by unrelenting knee pain that had him downing anti-inflammatories every day for the previous 15 years. Stevens battled his weight, too, during the final five years he was riding.

"I couldn't feel better," he said.

Stevens is the seventh different jockey to ride Oxbow, who is 2-for-9 in his short career. He was aboard for the first time in the Arkansas Derby, where the colt finished fifth, teaching his rider a valuable lesson about lagging behind too long.