D. Wayne Lukas set the standard in horse racing. And the sport followed suit. Trainers wanted to be like Wayne.

"Wayne Lukas reinvented the game," Lanny Kohnhorst, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association's Director of Horsemen's Relations. "Wayne produced champions, from Grade 1 winners to stallion prospects to next generation of trainers, and defined American Thoroughbred racing."

Lukas died on the evening of June 28 at age 89. He was hospitalized in Louisville last week after a severe MRSA blood infection caused significant damage to the thoroughbred trainer's heart, digestive system and worsened preexisting chronic conditions, according to a statement from the Lukas family.