Four-time Kentucky Derby-winning trainer D. Wayne Lukas announced last May that he would be donating his personal thoroughbred racing career collection to the Kentucky Derby Museum.
Visitors got a taste of what the permanent exhibit will look like when Museum President and CEO Patrick Armstrong unveiled a temporary model Friday.
It's comprised of a portion of Lukas’ 1,200 donated items, including footage of his Derby wins, which he said immediately takes him back to those days.
“Seeing it here, I get those cold chills all over again,” Lukas said. “I’d like to come over and play it -- just keep punching it, punching it, punching it. Because they are hard to win and they are so special.”
Kevin Flanery, President of Churchill Downs Racetrack, said both the temporary and the planned permanent exhibit will offer museum visitors a variety of unique experiences.
“Being able to hear those stories from Wayne himself, to be able to see those great mementos,” Flanery said. “And to understand that behind every victory, behind every race, is a team of people that Wayne has led into history.”
Highlights of the new exhibit include Lukas’ four Kentucky Derby trophies for wins in 1988 (Winning Colors), 1995 (Thunder Gulch), 1996 (Grindstone) and 1999 (Charismatic); four Kentucky Oaks trophies, four Kentucky Derby rings and a Hall of Fame ring, and his Eclipse Award of Merit, received in 2013.
Details regarding the permanent exhibition will be released at a later date.