Honorable Duty Headlines Lukas Classic

Graded stakes winner Honorable Duty, runner up to Gun Runner in June's Stephen Foster Handicap (G1), will return to action Sept. 30 at Churchill Downs as the horse to beat against six rivals in the fifth running of the $200,000 Lukas Classic Stakes (G3).  

The 1 1/8-mile Lukas Classic for 3-year-olds and older honors the 82-year-old Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. His namesake race earned grade 3 status for the first time and serves as the centerpiece of a Churchill Downs card that also features the $100,000 Ack Ack Stakes (G3).

Honorable Duty, owned by David A. Ross' DAARS Inc. and trained by Brendan Walsh, has won six of 14 career starts. The 5-year-old Distorted Humor  gelding swept the winter dirt series for older horses at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots—the Tenacious Stakes, $125,000 Mineshaft Handicap (G3) and $400,000 New Orleans Handicap (G2)—before finishing second in both the May 5 Alysheba Stakes Presented by Big Fish Casino (G2) the $500,000 Stephen Foster Handicap on June 17. 

"He's been training really great since the Stephen Foster," Walsh said. "We kept him at home this summer and he put in his first published breeze since the race in early August. He worked six furlongs (in 1:12 3/5) the other morning (Sept. 23) with Corey (Lanerie) aboard and he just did it so effortlessly. He loves this surface and I think he'll fit this race well coming back off the layoff."

Honorable Duty landed the outside post 7 for the Lukas Classic and will be ridden for the first time by Lanerie.

Chief among Honorable Duty's rivals in the seven-horse Lukas Classic field are graded stakes winners Fear the Cowboy and Eagle.

Fear the Cowboy was a two-length winner of the $200,000 West Virginia Governor's Stakes in his last start at Mountaineer Casino Racetrack & Resort Aug. 5. Trained by Efren Loza Jr., the 5-year-old son of Cowboy Cal also won the Skip Away Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park earlier in the year.  

William S. Farish's Eagle defeated Fear the Cowboy by a head two starts ago in the Michael G. Schaefer Memorial Stakes at Indiana Grand July 15. In his most recent start Aug. 26 for trainer Neil Howard, the 5-year-old son of Candy Ride  was second to Just Call Kenny in the Philip H. Iselin Stakes (G3) at Monmouth Park.  

The eight-furlong Ack Ack will follow the Lukas Classic on the card and features a competitive nine-horse field headed by Live Oak Plantation's homebred graded stakes winner Awesome Slew.

The 4-year-old son of Awesome Again  has faced some the top middle-distance runners during his 2017 season. His lone win this year came at Keeneland in the Commonwealth Stakes (G3) and he has posted back-to-back runner-up finishes in the July 8 Belmont Sprint Championship Stakes (G2)  and the Aug. 26 Forego  Stakes (G1).

A pair of rising stars—Buff Bradley and Carl Hurst's The Player and Churchill Downs Racing Club's  Warrior's Club—seek their first graded stakes success in the Ack Ack.

The Player, a 4-year-old homebred son of Street Hero trained by co-owner Bradley, enters the race off an easy one-mile allowance victory at Ellis Park. His best career effort was a runner-up finish to future grade 1 winner Cupid in the 2016 Indiana Derby (G2) and two of his three career victories came at Churchill, including back-to-back wins during his 3-year-old season. 

 "He's really been training great since that race (at Ellis)," Bradley said. "I think the outside post will actually help us Saturday so I'm pretty pleased with that. If he runs like he's training I think he's sitting on a big effort."

Warrior's Club enters the Ack Ack of a pair of strong Saratoga outings that included a three-length allowance win Sept. 2 at 6 1/2 furlongs and a runner-up finish at seven furlongs to Neolithic Aug. 5. The 3-year-old son of Warrior's Reward  won last fall's $200,000 Spendthrift Stallion Stakes, a race restricted to the offspring of stallions standing at Spendthrift Farm, and won a one-mile allowance race at Oaklawn Park earlier in the year.

Entries: Lukas Classic S. (G3)

Churchill Downs, Saturday, September 30, 2017, Race 9

• Grade III
• 1 1/8m
• Dirt
• $200,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 4:49 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Seeking the Soul (KY)	Florent Geroux	121	Dallas Stewart	8/1
2	2Albano (KY)	Channing Hill	121	William Don Bennett	30/1
3	3Fear the Cowboy (KY)	Jesus M. Rios	123	Efren Loza, Jr.	4/1
4	4Flashy Jewel (KY)	Chris Landeros	121	Michael J. Maker	12/1
5	5Money Flows (KY)	Miguel Mena	121	Albert M. Stall, Jr.	5/1
6	6Eagle (KY)	Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr.	121	Neil J. Howard	3/1
7	7Honorable Duty (KY)	Corey J. Lanerie	123	Brendan P. Walsh	6/5

Entries: Ack Ack S. (G3)

Churchill Downs, Saturday, September 30, 2017, Race 10

• Grade III
• 1m
• Dirt
• $100,000
• 3 yo's & up
• 5:20 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Harmac (KY)	James Graham	118	Grant T. Forster	30/1
2	2Conquest Big E (KY)	Florent Geroux	121	Donna Green Hurtak	4/1
3	3Etruscan (KY)	Jesus Lopez Castanon	121	William Don Bennett	30/1
4	4Awesome Slew (FL)	Corey J. Lanerie	121	Mark E. Casse	6/5
5	5Warrior's Club (KY)	Jon Kenton Court	121	D. Wayne Lukas	5/1
6	6Pinson (FL)	C.J. McMahon	121	Randy L. Morse	20/1
7	7The Player (KY)	Calvin H. Borel	121	William B. Bradley	5/1
8	8Zulu (KY)	Channing Hill	121	Wayne M. Catalano	9/2
9	9Gray Sky (KY)	Chris Landeros	121	D. Wayne Lukas	30/1