Jeff Lukas’ Condition Is Called Worse

The condition of Jeff Lukas, the assistant trainer who suffered multiple skull fractures as he tried to stop a loose horse in the stable area at Santa Anita, worsened from serious to very critical, a spokeswoman for the Lukas Racing Stable said Friday.

Peggy Yost, the family spokeswoman, said that she had been unable to obtain the results of the second CAT scan that had been taken on Lukas at the Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena.

A nurse in the intensive-care ward at the hospital said Friday night that she had been asked by the family to refer questions about Lukas’ condition to Yost.

Later attempts to reach Yost were unsuccessful.

Before Friday, Lukas’ condition had gone from critical to serious after the Wednesday morning accident. When he tried to stop the runaway near a barn, the horse, who had a head start of about 40 yards, crashed into Lukas, knocking him to the ground.

The horse is Tabasco Cat, a stakes-winning 2-year-old colt who ran third in last month’s $1-million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita. Tabasco Cat had gotten loose from his handlers after a workout.

Lukas, 36, has worked for his father, the Eclipse Award-winning trainer Wayne Lukas, since 1978. Jeff Lukas has been credited with building the foundation that led to his father’s filly, Winning Colors, winning the Kentucky Derby in 1988.

Earlier this week, Wayne Lukas had told fellow trainers at Hollywood Park that doctors were considering surgery for his son. Besides the head injuries, Jeff Lukas also suffered internal bleeding and had been placed on a respirator shortly after he was airlifted to the hospital.