BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Just over 40 years ago, Frank Lucarelli became the only pitcher in school history ever to throw a perfect game at Western Washington University. Since then, he has become one of the elite horse trainers in the Pacific Northwest.
 
The 61-year-old Lucarelli, who has been a trainer for 39 years, is a 2018 finalist for induction into the Washington Racing Hall of Fame, the state's highest honor in thoroughbred racing. Through Aug. 19, he ranks No.1 in the 22-year history of Emerald Downs in both wins (937) and purse earnings ($10,285,039) and is No.4 in stakes wins (44). He has finished first or second among trainers in 16 of the last 18 seasons at Emerald Downs, located in Auburn, taking top honors in 1999, 2004, 2006, 2011 and 2012.
 
"It's like a batting average in baseball," said Lucarelli in explaining his success. "Three hundred is great, even though seven out of 10 times you're going down. But in this game (horse racing), if you can hit it 20 percent you're doing pretty darn good, but you're still getting beat up 80 percent of the time."
 
Lucarelli pitched two seasons at Western from 1977 to 1978, winning six of eight decisions and posting a 1.65 earned run average (ERA). He struck out 90 in 87-1/3 innings worked.
 
Lucarelli, who was a 19th round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1975 coming out of Bellevue's Newport High School, got his horse trainer's license in 1979 following a brief minor league baseball career in the Northwest and California independent leagues.
 
Perfection
 
It was on Apr. 9, 1977, a cool and windy day at Cheney, Wash., that Lucarelli reached perfection in a seven-inning contest, the first game of a doubleheader, against Eastern Washington.
 
"I got a lot of ground ball outs," he recalled. "You've got to be pretty good and you've got to be a little lucky, and you've got to have help, and it all came together that day for me."
 
Keeping especially close watch that afternoon was teammate and fellow pitcher Randy Eggen, who was keeping the pitching chart.
 
"If I remember correctly, in that game Frank only had like 70 pitches – something like that," Eggen said. "He was just on fire and nearly everything he threw was a strike. I remember he only went to a full count on a couple of batters and came back and struck them out."
 
"Frank was keeping the ball down really good that day, and probably 75 percent of the balls hit (off him) were on the ground."
 
Though aware of what was taking place, Lucarelli never let the tension get to him.
 
"Everybody knew what was going on, though nobody was talking about it," said Eggen. "But Frank was still Frank in the dugout. He was still joking around and stuff like that."
 
Western plated two runs in the top of the third inning. That proved to be the only scoring of the game, which took just one hour and 10 minutes to complete.
 
"When he was on, he was on," said then Western baseball coach Ralph Dickenson, who went on to coach at every level of professional baseball.
 
A play that could have spoiled Lucarelli's masterpiece came with two outs in the seventh inning on a liner into the gap in left center field. Kelly Smith, the Vikings' all-star centerfielder, was sprinting for the ball all the way, but dove and missed. Fortunately, leftfielder Tom Harmon, who only had to move a few steps, was backing Smith up and made the catch. Neither one was able to hear the other because of the wind.
 
"It was a vintage game for Frank," said Harmon. "When his stuff was on, he was nasty. That was about the only play that was iffy."
 
Catching Lucarelli that day was Mike Locker.
 
"Frank was a specimen and had such a relaxed throwing style," Locker said. "But when that ball came out of his hand, it was like being shot out of a gun. He had a decent breaking ball, but that was to just set up the gas." 
 
However, the perfect game was not the only notable thing that took place that day. Incredibly, Western was no-hit in the second game, losing 1-0 on an unearned run.
 
A doubleheader with both a perfect game and a no-hitter thrown in back-to-back contests. That has never happened at the major league level and you would be hard-pressed to find another at the collegiate or any other professional level.
 
Love of Horses
 
When Frank was just three years old, the Lucarelli family moved from New York to Seattle. There his dad became part owner of a horse at Longacres, a track located in Renton that was the home for thoroughbred racing in western Washington for 59 years until closing in 1992. On Saturday mornings, Frank would tag along with his dad, who would go out to the track, have breakfast, look at his horse and talk with the trainer.
 
"As a young kid, I just loved the whole atmosphere," said Frank. "When I was 13, I started working in the barns a little bit and helping out during the summer before going to play ball … About the time I was 15 or 16, I decided that I was going to play ball as long as I could and when I was done I was going to start training horses."
 
And that's just what happened.
 
"I sorta lived my dream out," he said. "My dream would have been to play a little more ball, but it didn't turn out so bad for me."
 
Keys to Success
 
What has made Lucarelli so successful at training horses? There are a number of reasons as he is quick to point out.
 
"The main thing is that I hire good people. I have grooms in my barn who have been there for 10-15 years, which is unheard of in this business. And I've got an assistant (Dennis Snowden), who has been with me for almost 20 years, which allows me to run around and do other things."
 
"You've got to surround yourself with good help because it doesn't matter how I enter or what I do, if the horses aren't getting the care at the barn they need and they're getting overlooked, they're not going to be near as successful."
 
Lucarelli also feels strongly that his background in athletics has made him a better trainer. One of his colleagues is Junior Coffey, who was a star running back at the University of Washington and played football professionally.
 
"He's a good friend of mine and a trainer out here (Emerald Downs)," said Lucarelli. "We get together two or three times a year and have dinner or a barbecue and talk, and we both swear that having been athletes helps us with these horses."
 
"We see some people do things with their horses that you'd never do as an athlete in training. I know how I trained to get ready to pitch a game and how I sometimes experimented myself. How I backed off and then I threw harder bullpens.
 
"You try to find what works for you to be your best. And it's basically the same thing with horses. We try to find what makes that horse best on a particular day."
 
To illustrate his point, Lucarelli recalls a pre-season game he threw while attending Big Bend College. All that day he had been doing a strenuous work-study job on campus, hauling slabs of cement off the tennis courts.
 
"At the time, I was upset with my coach (for having to do that job on a game day)," he recalled. "But I swear to this day that I never threw as hard or as good as I did that night. I threw like six innings and struck out 14 of 18 batters … So, I began lifting weights before I threw. You'd always be trying to emulate what was good."
 
"And with the horses we do the same thing. If things are going well, I go back and look at my charts, which I keep on every horse, and try to emulate each day exactly. If it's working, it's good, don't change it.
And, if something isn't working, we need to move this horse's work back, or we need to move this or do that. So, as athletes, you know that we're just trying to make your own performance better. I think as a former athlete, we do more of that than a lot of these people.
 
"I see a lot of trainers out here and every horse goes boom-boom around the circle and off, boom-boom around the circle and off. I'll have some that jog two miles, some gallop hard, some work the quarter, some go a half mile, and you're just trying to get them all set up for their races."
 
And just like he was a competitor on the mound, so Lucarelli is as a trainer.
 
"I run fairly aggressively with my horses. I try to pick spots that I think I'm going to be the favorite in and I can win. And we've had success."
 
"You've just got to learn each animal and know that they are all a little different. Some you can train hard and some you've got to go easy with, there's just a lot of different aspects. But figuring all that out and aggressively entering your horse in the right spots so you can have some success. And we've been fortunate to do that."
  
Lucarelli has trained horses primarily in Washington, first at Longacres and then Emerald Downs, and in California at storied tracks such as Hollywood Park, Del Mar and Santa Anita.

Gallant Son
 
Over his career, the signature horse for Lucarelli has been Gallant Son, which had over $500K in earnings. It was the second horse based out of Emerald Downs to run in the Breeders' Cup and also gave Lucarelli two stakes races in 2008 at Emerald Downs -- the Gottstein Futurity and the WTBA Lads race as well.

Lucarelli scored three Emerald Downs stakes wins and Top Juvenile honors in 2008 with Gallant Son (40-11-5-6, $552,528), a $9,000 yearling who romped by six lengths in the $100,000 Gottstein Futurity and finished seventh in the $2-million Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
 
Gallant Son became only the second Emerald Downs-based horse to run in the Breeders' Cup. He also won the 2009 Pasadena Stakes at Santa Anita and the 2010 Inglewood Handicap (G3) at Hollywood Park.
Gallant Son returned to Emerald Downs and finished sixth as the 5-2 second choice in the 2010 Longacres Mile and seventh at 24-1 in 2012.
 
At Western
 
Following graduation from Newport High School where he was team captain and second-team all-conference as a senior on a state championship team, Lucarelli went to Big Bend College located in Moses Lake. There he had a 0.95 ERA as a sophomore.
 
"I got drafted (out of high school) and I was fully intending to sign. But in the last state playoff game that I threw, I tweaked my elbow … I got drafted and they were going to send out their head scout from California to watch me throw and make me an offer. And I had to call them and tell them that with my arm I couldn't throw, my elbow hurt … So, I felt it would be best for me to heal up and go to college and get re-drafted."
 
"My brother Vito was playing at Bellevue CC and I kind of wanted to go there, but they wouldn't offer me a scholarship, which didn't amount to a lot of money, but it kind of ticked me off. So, I went to Big Bend with a couple of my teammates and they gave all three of us scholarships."
 
After two years, Lucarelli transferred to Western as did his brother.
 
"With Ralph (Dickenson) coaching, we had a pretty good program," said Lucarelli of his time on Sehome Hill. "Ralph could have coached at the DI level and done well. I would have put him up against anyone."
 
"Frank showed up my sophomore year and he couldn't throw anything besides his fastball," remembered Eggen. "He threw hard, but he didn't have a changeup or breaking ball or anything like that. And Ralph taught him how to throw a slider and he just became nails. You mix in a really hard slider with a fastball. There were games where he was pretty much untouchable."
 
At Western, the 6-foot-1, 205-pound Lucarelli was twice named first-team All-Evergreen Conference.
 
Brotherly love
 

The Lucarelli brothers were a standout combination at Western.
 
Vito, who was one and one-half years older than Frank, also earned all-conference honors as a catcher. He set a school season record with six home runs during the 1978 season.
 
But what teammates remember most vividly about the two Italians was the arguments they had between innings during games that Frank pitched and Vito caught."
 
"Frank would give up a hit and he would blame it on Vito," said Smith. "Or Vito would blame Frank. There was constant arguing on the bench between innings. Everybody just let the brothers fight. Stay away from the Lucarellis. No one wanted to sit by them during games because they were yelling so loudly at one another."
 
"They chipped at each other all the time," agreed Eggen. "It was really interesting. I mean they're brothers. They grew up together right? And there were very few things that were held back between those two. Which was always pretty comical at the end of the day."
 
"He (Vito) was good, and he was hardcore," said Frank Lucarelli of his brother (now a jockeys' agent at Emerald Downs). I believe that if I'd had his mindset that I would have made it further (in baseball)."
 
"Vito would come out and yell at me if I'm missing spots and tell me that he was going to tell the coach to take me out. And that would make me mad. Probably made me better because when I got mad I threw pretty good."
 
"He was a very good catcher, one of the best I've thrown to. He knew how to set guys up and I never shook him off. There were a few times early on, that I'd shake him off and he'd give me the same signal and I'd shake him off again and he'd be jamming his fist into the ground with the same signal. And then he'd take a timeout and run out yelling at me.
 
"I don't think he got after the other pitchers like he did me. He might go out there and say this or that. But when you care more for someone, you do say things a little different. No.1 because he knew that I could do better and No.2 he knew how to get the most out of me.
 
"We've stayed close and have a lot of the same interests. And, of course, he loves baseball still and the races. We get along great. I'll see him during the day at the track. I still talk with him in the evenings for 45 minutes to an hour."
 
Oftentimes, to keep things calmer in the dugout, Coach Dickenson would have Locker catch Lucarelli.
 
"I have three brothers, so I appreciate the situation," said Locker. "It was better that way for the team. I pretty much let Frank call his own game."
 
Still Loves Baseball
 
Though his playing days are over, Lucarelli still loves baseball.
 
"I watch a lot of baseball and that's about it," Lucarelli says. "My son (Michael) graduated three years ago from (University of) Portland (where he was a four-year starter at the DI school). So, seven years ago when he was in high school, I was the pitching coach at his high school and I threw batting practice every day."
 
"And I would have liked to have stayed on even after he graduated, but the problem was I wanted to go and see his college games as much as I could. And I couldn't do both and train horses. So, I gave up the coaching part, which I really enjoyed. I watch the Mariners and high school games. I could just pull over at a park and watch any game, I just enjoy sitting there and watching, but no softball or any of that stuff. I'm getting too old for any of that.
 
"Recently I took my wife Pam (they met as seniors at Newport High) to Chicago for a couple of Cubs' games. We went to a game and afterwards watched the Belmont Stakes race on the big screen at Wrigley Field. You can't do much better than that."
 
How long will he continue?
 
Horse trainers historically seem to go on forever, and that appears to be the case with Lucarelli.
 
"I just can't imagine getting up and not coming out here (to the track)," he said. "Right now at 61, my thoughts are zero of ever retiring. Maybe at some point I might want to cut down and not run around so much. Maybe consolidate my program to a smaller stable. Instead of having 50-60 horses at two racetracks and running around, maybe have 25 head and go from here to there with them. I can see myself doing that at some point, but not in the near future."
 
Vito Lucarelli -- Vito, Frank's older brother, is a jockeys' agent at Emerald Downs. He played two years (1977-78) for the Vikings after transferring from Bellevue CC, earning all-Evergreen Conference honors both seasons. As a senior at WWU, Vito hit .357 and set a single-season school record with six home runs. Following college, he played for Victoria B.C. and Grays Harbor of the Northwest League. Vito signed with the Chicago White Sox, playing Class A ball at Appleton, Wisconsin, and Class AAA with the Iowa Oaks of American Association. His career ended after sustaining three broken vertebrae in his neck during a take-out-the-catcher play at home plate. Vito was a bullpen catcher for the Seattle Mariners in the early 1980s.
 
Frank Lucarelli
Emerald Downs Career Racing Highlights

• 2017 - Washington Horse of the Year, Mach One Rules
• 2015 - Washington Champion Juvenile Colt, Mach One Rules
• 2014 – Washington Champion Juvenile Colt, Trackattacker
• 2012 - EmD Top Older Horse, Winning Machine
• 2012 - EmD Top Sprinter, Winning Machine
• 2011 - Washington Champion Older Filly or Mare, Point of Reference
• 2008 - Top EmD Juvenile, Gallant Son
• 2008 - Gottstein Futurity, Gallant Son
• 2008 - WTBA Lads Stakes, Gallant Son
• 2008 - Seattle Slew Handicap, Fear No Evil
• 2005 - Hastings Park Handicap, Marva Jean
• 2004 - Strong Ruler Stakes, Indian Weaver
• 2004 - EmD Top Sprinter, Marva Jean
• 2003 - Angie C, Melba Jewel
• 2001- Captain Condo, Kenny Hawk
• 2000 - Pepsi Cola, Shake Loose
• 1999 - Washington Champion Juvenile Colt, No Curfew
• 1999 - Horse of the Meeting, No Curfew
• 1999 - Top EmD Juvenile, No Curfew
• 1999 - Gottstein Futurity, No Curfew

 Wins in California
 
Hollywood Park:

• Robert Kerlan Handicap, 2011
• Inglewood Handicap, 2019

 Santa Anita

• Pasadena Stakes, 2009

 Santa Rosa    

• Jess Jackson Stakes, 2014

 Golden Gate

• Albany Stakes, 2013
• Oakland Stakes, 2013 

Written by Paul Madison who served 48 years as sports information director at WWU from 1966 to 2015. He is beginning his fourth year as the school's athletics historian.


Lucarelli and fellow trainer Chris Senslie

Frank Lucarelli Saddles 1,000th Career Winner At Emerald Downs

Aug. 2019

Crest Drive rolled to a 14 ½-length victory in race five Sunday to give trainer Frank Lucarelli his 1,000th victory at Emerald Downs.

A five-time Emerald Downs' training champion, Lucarelli is No. 1 all-time in both wins and earnings, and with 57 wins on pace for his greatest season at Emerald Downs.

Lucarelli, 62, was presented with an engraved saddle and plaque by Emerald Downs' Vice President Jack Hodge, and credited his family and stable help.

"I love it up here at Emerald Downs," Lucarelli said. " I just want to thank everyone at the track, my wife Pam, my assistant Dennis Snowden, my owners, my grooms. . .I want to thank all of them."

Ridden by Gary Wales, Crest Drive ($8) ran six furlongs in 1:09.58 and also gave Chad Christensen his meet-leading 21st victory as an owner. Although the race was a blowout, there were some anxious moments as the stewards posted an inquiry, and Ryan Barber on runner-up Front Row Friends lodged an objection alleging interference at the start. However, no change was made to the order of finish.

Lucarelli added victory No. 1,001 in race seven with Legitimate Cause ($4.20) and has a chance to break the single-season record of 66 wins shared by Tim McCanna and Jeff Metz.

Lucarelli, who also maintains a string of horses in Northern California, has 1,783 wins overall and over $22 million in earnings.

Former WWU baseball standout Frank Lucarelli named 2023 inductee into Washington Thoroughbred Hall of Fame

Successful horse trainer to enter hall on Aug. 12 at Emerald Downs

Frank Lucarelli, who played baseball at Western Washington University, has been named a 2023 inductee into the Washington Thoroughbred Hall of Fame in the Trainer category.

The announcement was made Saturday, Feb. 25, at the Horse Breeders' banquet. The induction ceremony will be Aug. 12 at Emerald Downs.

The 65-year-old Lucarelli, who on Apr. 9, 1977, pitched the only perfect game in program history for the Vikings, is among the most successful trainers in state history - and the most successful at Emerald Downs.

"Luke" has rolled up seven training titles at Emerald Downs and ranks No. 1 in both all-time wins (1,122) and earnings ($12,706,343) and second in stakes wins (56).

In 2019, Lucarelli shattered the single-season record with 81 wins in 67 days, including a state record tying five-win day on Sept. 7.

Extremely consistent and versatile, Lucarelli has reeled off 28 straight Top-10 finishes at Emerald Downs while demonstrating proficiency with claiming horses and stakes runners alike.

In 2017, Mach One Rules was honored as both Emerald Downs Horse of the Meeting and Washington Horse of the Year, winning three stakes and finishing runner-up in the Longacres Mile (G3).

Gallant Son, a $9,000 yearling, was the track's dominant 2-year-old in 2008 and became only the second Emerald Downs' based runner to compete in the Breeders' Cup. Gallant Son won eight stakes, including the Grade 3 Inglewood at Hollywood Park, and was stakes-placed 16 times.

In 1999, Lucarelli conditioned 2-year-old No Curfew to Emerald Downs Horse of the Meeting honors. In 2012, Lucarelli conditioned Winning Machine to a runner-up finish in the Longacres Mile and honors as Top Older Horse and Top Sprinter. In 2014, Trackattacker reeled off three stakes wins while setting track and stakes records and was voted Emerald Downs and WTBOA champion 2-year-old. And in 2015, Mach One Rules was unbeaten in four starts including three stakes and was voted track and state champion 2-year-old colt or gelding.

Lucarelli also has conditioned four Claimers of the Meet, including three in a four-year span (Classielyte, 2010; Touch of Elegance, 2011; Kind of Naughty, 2013). Overall training numbers: 2,205 wins and 1,692 stakes wins and over $26 million in earnings.

Born in New York and raised in Washington, Lucarelli pitched two seasons at Western from 1977 to 1978, winning six of eight decisions and posting a 1.65 earned run average (ERA). He struck out 90 batters in 87-1/3 innings worked.

 Lucarelli, who was a 19th round draft pick of the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1975 coming out of Bellevue's Newport High School, got his horse trainer's license in 1979 following a brief minor league baseball career in the Northwest and California independent leagues.