The $500,000, Grade 2 Lukas Classic Stakes Saturday at Churchill Downs may not be a qualifying race for the Longines Breeders’ Cup Classic five weeks later, but it certainly has implications because the top three contenders could be be running in that race depending on how they perform in this one.

Last year, it was trainer Brad Cox’s venerable Plainsman who reigned in the Grade 3 Ack Ack Stakes at Churchill Downs, a race named for a horse from the late 60s and early 70s, who was called Ack Ack after the action of World War II artillery pieces.