Lucasey boots rivals in slop

One of the hottest trotters around is Lucasey, a 4-year-old Yankee Glide gelding, who has won four of his last five starts, the most receng being a 1:56 tally by over five lengths on a sloppy Meadowlands surface Friday night.

Named after the elite brand of Lucchese cowboy boots, Lucasey is owned by Ira Kristel and Ann Zabar and trained by Ross Croghan.

“I heard the horse was for sale at Lexington so I inquired about him,” said Croghan of Lucasey. “I liked him, thought he was worth the money, but my owner thought he was overpriced. Ira said if you don’t want to buy him, would you train him for me and I agreed.”

Croghan feels good old home cooking has been a big key to Lucasey’s turnaround out east.

“He’d been doing a lot of traveling before I got him,” continued Croghan. “It seemed like he was either racing or on the road. He’s not the type of horse that wants a lot of pressure. He’s a terrible training horse but once he sees the gate, has plenty of guts. He gets going and keeps going, no matter what the track is like. I don’t know if he has enough quick speed to be a top level trotter but he’s a hard tryer.”

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