Hey RAw, What's a whinger (like an eccentric kinda guy)? And what does his bro say about him and what does Richard Freedman do and why the bad blood between them?
LONG POST BELOW-Skip to bottom of post for summary
I'll make my first HEMISPHERE TRAINER SIMILARITIES (from now on known as HTS) comparison here: GAI WATERHOUSE - the often accused but usually aquitted sheila trainer comes from horse racing royalty and is trying to make her legendary daddy proud and to add to his legacy (IMO). I don't know what TJ's style was, but I know he was the man. Gai's style of ruining the young runners in pursuit of a fast buck at any cost and in disregard for the horse's welfare is akin to our Hall of Fame trainer -- D. WAYNE LUKAS.

D.WAYNE would often have tremendous two and three year old's in the late '80's and most of the 1990's. These expensive monsters (Winning Colors-only 3rd filly in history to win Kentucky Derby) were owned by the late EUGENE KLEIN(owner of the NFL's San Diego Chargers whose silks were the lightning bolt of the team) until his passing in 1990 or 91 when BOB and BEVERLY LEWISbecame the primary(CHARISMATIC-winner of Kentucky Derby and Preakness and game 2nd or 3rd in the Belmont stakes after being injured in the race and indelibly etching both a horrible and compassionate picture in my mind-(rider Chris Antley had been in and out of trouble with drugs and alcohol abuse as well as majorly struggling with depression and keeping the weight down when his comeback to riding paid off when he got this mount. After the Belmont finish, he quickly jumped off CHARISMATIC and wiith his eyes filled with tears and with disregard for his own safety, ANT held up CHARISMATIC's seriously injured front leg until help came, effectively saving the horse's life and saving the LEWIS' lots of money. Six months later, ANT was found dead in his apartment in Cali. in what is thought to be a murder by some young punk who lived with Ant over a drug debt. Chris had voiced his fear to fellow jock, Gary Stevens who implored the police to focus on the case but in a cover up, deemed ANT's death an accident as the result of falling, hitting his head, and dying from blunt force trauma! Steven's eventually had to hush up, presumably because of threats and no arrests werer ever made. Such a pity for another jockey who Apprenticed here at good old DELAWARE PARK and became a top notch rider.). Aropund the same time William T. Young's OVERBROOK FARMS also came into the picture with D WAYNE LUKAS owning such standouts as TIMBER COUNTRY-broke down in either Preakness or Belmont and STORM CAT).

After huge success and earning lots of detractors and fans during the 90's, the LEWIS' moved most of their big guns at the time to the up and coming California trainer, BOB BAFFERT(SILVER CHARM and 2005's WHATASONG ****$1.9 Million 2yo c. by top notch newbie sire SONGANDAPRAYER**** who broke down in a normal morning gallop at DelMar in mid August while training in anticipation of the Breeder's Cup Juvenile and one of the future book favorites for the 2006 Kentucky Derby and was sadly euthanized.

LUKAS began his decent from top trainer in the US to one with not much of a stable around Y2K, when PADUA STABLES became his most active owner. PADUA spent millions of dollars on the best horse flesh available but have never won any real big ones since becoming D. Wayne's bread and butter. PADUA got fed up and moved on to BAFFERT and others.


HTS SUMMARY
D. WAYNE LUKAS and GAI WATERHOUSE are HTS due to the widely held opinion that they can ruin young and expensive horses, are controversial, non-chalant about accusations, and seem to enjoy the high profile attention they receive with their glory days behind them. Both will still win big races, but it ain't ever gonna be the same (more for LUKAS than Gai). They also both had multi-millionare owners leading to G.1 winners in abundance. Perhaps the biggest HTS for D. WAYNE WATERHOUSE and GAI LUKAS can be summed up in one word-------------- COCKY!