D. Wayne: The High-Rolling and Fast Times of America's Premier Horse Trainer

Rating:
Summary: Outran--Absolute Glue
Review: A true shame. What purports to be a definitive biography is mostly a paraphrase of several articles and passages from other books.
No trainer in this lifetime influenced the Sport of Kings more than D. Wayne Lukas. His story deserves the treatment of a quality writer and editor. However, the team that conditioned this offering either lacked those qualities (which I honestly doubt), or they simply didn't care to get it right. The book is filled with inaccuracies and misspellings. It is disjointed and frustrating to read.
Readers will find themselves constantly composing a letter to the publisher in their mind. If you are thinking of purchasing this book, wait for the softcover. Instead try Joe Drape's recent account of the triple crown series or try to find Sports Illustrated articles about Lukas.
Specious at best.

Rating:
Summary: Outran--Absolute Glue
Review: A true shame. What purports to be a definitive biography is mostly a paraphrase of several articles and passages from other books.
No trainer in this lifetime influenced the Sport of Kings more than D. Wayne Lukas. His story deserves the treatment of a quality writer and editor. However, the team that conditioned this offering either lacked those qualities (which I honestly doubt), or they simply didn't care to get it right. The book is filled with inaccuracies and misspellings. It is disjointed and frustrating to read.
Readers will find themselves constantly composing a letter to the publisher in their mind. If you are thinking of purchasing this book, wait for the softcover. Instead try Joe Drape's recent account of the triple crown series or try to find Sports Illustrated articles about Lukas.
Specious at best.

Rating:
Summary: A Revealing Look at a True 'Horse Player'
Review: As a horse-racing fan, I was very impressed with the candid nature of DeVito's book. It has some really juicy parts and gives an up-and-down view of this maverick figure. I can't wait for the Derby this weekend and an opportunity to see Lukas in the winner's circle. I would highly recommend it to racing fans.

Rating:
Summary: A Revealing Look at a True 'Horse Player'
Review: As a horse-racing fan, I was very impressed with the candid nature of DeVito's book. It has some really juicy parts and gives an up-and-down view of this maverick figure. I can't wait for the Derby this weekend and an opportunity to see Lukas in the winner's circle. I would highly recommend it to racing fans.

Rating:
Summary: About time!
Review: As a racing fan, I've been waiting for this story to come out for years. I've never been a big fan of Lukas, but the chapters about his early years with thoroughbreds are fascinating. I still don't like the guy much, but I do have a new respect for him after reading this book. Also, the author begins the book with Lukas' string of bad luck finding a horse for the Derby a few years ago. There's some great behind the scenes stuff in this section that horse fans will really be into. A few little things bothered me, though. He refers to Muttering and Marfa as fillies. Not so. But otherwise, some great stuff on Charismatic and Chris Antley. An excellent insiders book with some pretty revealing interviews. I give it 4 stars.

Rating:
Summary: About time!
Review: As a racing fan, I've been waiting for this story to come out for years. I've never been a big fan of Lukas, but the chapters about his early years with thoroughbreds are fascinating. I still don't like the guy much, but I do have a new respect for him after reading this book. Also, the author begins the book with Lukas' string of bad luck finding a horse for the Derby a few years ago. There's some great behind the scenes stuff in this section that horse fans will really be into. A few little things bothered me, though. He refers to Muttering and Marfa as fillies. Not so. But otherwise, some great stuff on Charismatic and Chris Antley. An excellent insiders book with some pretty revealing interviews. I give it 4 stars.

Rating:
Summary: If Details Bother You...
Review: By PAGE 1!, there are two serious mistakes. Established trainer and Lukas protege Mark Hennig is referred to as Mark Henning in the introduction and the successful sprinter City Zip is called Zip City. And that's on page 1! Another huge mistake is that the author says Gary Stevens won the 1994 Derby on Go For Gin. These are inexcusable errors that do illustrate a lack of professionalism on the part of the author and a degree of disrespect to Lukas himself. So, if you can forgive that, then check it out. I guess Wayne Lukas isn't Gandhi or Churchill so you can't choose between hundreds of different bios!

Rating:
Summary: Inacuracies Spoil Substance
Review: I just finished this book, with highlighter in hand. You see from page one where City Zip's name is changed to Zip City, to page 62 where horses have good confirmation to page 80 where Codex is a beautiful chestnut colt to page 84 where Devito is concerned with the breeding fees for Genuine Risk to page 87 where a jockey stood up in the reins to page 108 where Marfa is now a filly running in the KY Derby in the wrong year to page 264 where Bob & Beverly Lewis own Real Quiet... Well, you get my drift. This book is so full of inaccuracies you begin to question the authenticity of everything. Hasn't McGraw Hill ever heard of fact checkers? Don't waste your money unless you want to use it as a trivia game -"How many errors can you find in 10 minutes?".

Rating:
Summary: Inaccuracies Make Hack out of Devito
Review: I just finished this book, with highlighter in hand. You see from page one where City Zip's name is changed to Zip City, to page 62 where horses have good confirmation to page 80 where Codex is a beautiful chestnut colt to page 84 where Devito is concerned with the breeding fees for Genuine Risk to page 87 where a jockey stood up in the reins to page 108 where Marfa is now a filly running in the KY Derby in the wrong year to page 264 where Bob & Beverly Lewis own Real Quiet... Well, you get my drift. This book is so full of inaccuracies you begin to question the authenticity of everything. Hasn't McGraw Hill ever heard of fact checkers? Don't waste your money unless you want to use it as a trivia game -"How many errors can you find in 10 minutes?".

Rating:
Summary: This book breaks slow and never recovers
Review: Inaccuracies aside and there are a lot of them (Northern Dancer being referred to as Native Dancer, etc.) This book is poorly written, nonlinear storytelling being a major fault. The author jumps back in forth in time when discussing horses and races. There also is nothing really new revealed in this book as it's mostly a rehash of already well published facts. Finally it doesn't help that Wayne comes off as humorless and unsympathetic here as he does in real life.