New York Horsemen Honor Smullen-Tagg With Lukas Award

The New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association announces this year's D. Wayne Lukas Award will be presented to Robin Smullen-Tagg, who has been the right hand of trainer Barclay Tagg for over 26 years. Smullen-Tagg's expertise helped guide the careers of popular New York-bred classic winners Funny Cide and Tiz the Law, both of whom were campaigned by Sackatoga Stable. The D. Wayne Lukas Award was created by NYTHA in 2026 to be given annually to a New York-based assistant trainer who demonstrates the qualities that the late Hall of Fame trainer himself exemplified—dedication, a strong work ethic, and a high commitment to excellence. The winner receives a trophy and $10,000. This year, the presentation will be held Sept. 2—the birthdate of Lukas—during the races at Saratoga Race Course. "We established this award to spotlight the dedication of these unsung heroes that are so crucial to the success of every stable," said NYTHA president Tina Marie Bond. "Robin is a consummate horsewoman, and is widely respected by everyone in New York racing. She always puts the horses first, and her work ethic sets a high standard for everyone on the backstretch. "We received many worthwhile nominations, and it was difficult to choose just one winner," Bond added. "We encourage everyone who submitted candidates this year to put them up for consideration again in 2027." Smullen-Tagg grew up on her family's farm in Oxford, Pa., where they had about 25 horses that competed in various types of shows. That experience gave her a comprehensive base for her equestrian skills. "I was riding before I could walk, riding show horses, and anything else I could find," she said. "My mom said, 'If you can tack it up, you can ride it. And if you can get on it, you can ride it.' Well, I climbed on a lot of fences to get on a lot of horses, and I rode a lot of horses more than ponies. We had foxhounds and we hunted, and I've done pretty much every genre that there is. I have ridden Western, but not competitively, and I've never been on a polo pony … yet." A work-study program in high school introduced her to the racing world. "(Trainer) Ronnie Houghton had a farm about five miles from our farm, and he needed people to work," she recalled. "So, my brothers were mucking stalls, and I said, well, I can ride. He taught me how to gallop horses. I would go there at 5:30 in the morning, and we'd leave at 9:30 to go to school. We'd go home, take a shower, and then go to school." Following high school, Smullen-Tagg worked for trainer Dr. John Fisher for several years, which further deepened her knowledge base. She then served a stint with Marvin Green on the Firestones' farm in Virginia, but missed the buzz of the racetrack. "I was bored," she laughed. "So I took out my trainer's license and went to Charles Town. I did everything—mucked my stalls, galloped my horses. I did alright … but it was hard to get horses, hard to pay the bills." Smullen-Tagg returned to Dr. Fisher's barn, and a fateful trip to Florida to oversee winter shippers proved pivotal. "I met Barclay and we started dating," she explained. The following winter, their relationship became a professional one as well. "I told him ahead of time, I said, 'Listen, here's the deal. I'll go to work for you, but if at any point in time it's not working, I'm going to find another job, because I don't want to jeopardize our relationship because we're working together. It's hard. So we've just been pretty much inseparable ever since." Smullen-Tagg was with the Delaware Park string in 2002 when Tagg asked for her expertise with a talented but tough 2-year-old son of Distorted Humor. "(Funny Cide) was very difficult to ride, so Barclay called me and said, 'You've got to come up here and gallop this horse.' He was extremely tough; he had no mouth. I fiddled around with different bits and stuff. With Funny, it wasn't really about holding him, because you couldn't. Everything was give and take. 'Okay, you're going to gallop fast. Let's just try not to go that fast.' "I rode off the yoke a lot, wound up putting draw reins on him because I could kind of hold him in draw reins," she continued. "I'd ask for special permission to go the wrong way (after training hours). We galloped twice around at Belmont." Funny Cide won the Kentucky Derby (G1) and the Preakness Stakes (G1) and was named champion 3-year-old male of 2003. "If ever there was an iron horse, he was an iron horse," she added. "Because he was so hard on himself. Every work was a bullet; every gallop was fast. I don't know how he stayed as sound as he stayed—that's kind of amazing, actually." Tiz the Law, the 2020 Belmont Stakes (G1) and Travers Stakes (G1) winner, was quite different from his predecessor. "Tiz was a little strong, but a little strong compared to Funny Cide was completely different," she chuckled. Seeing the afternoon successes of her charges makes all of the daily work worthwhile. "The reward is when they run well," Smullen-Tagg reflected. "Being able to see the horse you like, walking down watching everybody eat their feed. It makes you feel good. You get to see them grow, you get to see them change. We try to find these diamonds in the rough." Paying attention to detail is understating Smullen-Tagg's ethos. "The training, that's the easy part," she noted. "It's everything else that's the hard part. Because horses are going to train themselves. If they're good, they're going to train well. If they're bad, they're going to struggle. Anybody can see that. "But you have to see the little things," she continued. "I can't stress to my people enough, how important it is to see everything. If a horse has a nick, take care of it. Because that leg's going to be blown up tomorrow morning if you don't, and we might miss a race. When a horse walks off the racetrack, you're the groom. Look at your bandages. Because I can see what the bandages look like. If there's this much dirt on all four bandages, we're good. If three of them have this much dirt and one has that much dirt, we've got a problem. Let's go over this horse and find out what's wrong with that leg that he's favoring. I watch everything." Jack Knowlton of Sackatoga Stable has seen firsthand how essential Smullen-Tagg has been to its success. "She's very deserving of this award," he said. "She's done a great, great job for 25-plus years working with us. As the years have gone on, Robin has taken on more and more of the management responsibility. I deal with her on all the horses. She is very, very good at managing them, dealing with the vets, and figuring out what races make sense." For all the respect Tagg has for his partner's exceptional horsemanship, there are additional qualities he prizes beyond that. "She's probably as fine an individual that I've ever known," Tagg said. "She's very, very smart, and a fantastic person. We think alike. It's been great working together—I've been very, very lucky." NYTHA's D. Wayne Lukas Award Committee consisted of owners Dan Collins and Tom Bellhouse, trainers Jena Antonucci and Linda Rice, Dave Grening of the Daily Racing Form, and Marie Kizenko, NYTHA's communications manager.