LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The grandstand was empty. But a crowd still came. Horse people from across the country -- from track presidents to barn workers -- filed into Churchill Downs on Tuesday afternoon, not for a race, but to remember a man who changed them all.

And somehow, it felt like D. Wayne Lukas was still running the show.

“He originally wanted this at 3:45 a.m.,” his grandson Brady Lukas said, to laughter from the crowd. “Just to remind you to set your alarm clocks a little earlier.”

Many spoke about Lukas during this two-hour Celebration of Life. But it was Brady who had the most singular view of the Hall of Fame trainer. Not through the lens of stats and stakes wins, but through the eyes of a grandson. The kind of eyes that catch the little things, both distant and poignantly near.

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