Hall of Fame horse racing trainer D. Wayne Lukas has been hospitalized and will not return to training, Churchill Downs announced Sunday after speaking with members of his family.

Lukas’ family said the 89-year-old has battled a severe MRSA blood infection that has caused significant damage to his heart and digestive system and worsened preexisting chronic conditions. The family said Lukas declined an aggressive treatment plan that doctors proposed involving multiple surgeries over the coming months and 24/7 assistance, instead deciding to return home.

His horses have been transferred to assistant trainer Sebastian “Bas” Nicholl, who has been part of Lukas’ team since 2002.

“Wayne built a legacy that will never be matched,” Nicholl said. “Every decision I make, every horse I saddle, I’ll hear his voice in the back of my mind. This isn’t about filling his shoes — no one can. It’s about honoring everything that he’s built.”

Lukas is one of the most accomplished people in the history of the sport. His 15 Triple Crown wins are second only to good friend Bob Baffert, and Lukas has a record-tying 20 in the Breeders Cup.

He won the Kentucky Derby four times since 1988. His most recent victory in the Triple Crown came last year with Seize the Grey in the Preakness, his seventh — one short of Baffert’s record.

“Wayne is one of the greatest competitors and most important figures in Thoroughbred racing history,” Churchill Downs president Mike Anderson said. “He transcended the sport of horse racing and took the industry to new levels. The lasting impact of his character and wisdom, from his acute horsemanship to his unmatched attention to detail, will be truly missed. The enormity of this news is immense, and our prayers are with his family and friends around the world during this difficult time.”

Lukas has 4,967 documented victories in thoroughbred racing, with his horses earning more than $310 million from more than 30,600 starts.

MOTORSPORTS

Chase Briscoe returned to Victory Lane at Pocono Raceway, conserving fuel down the stretch to hold off Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin for his first win with his new race team.

Briscoe raced his way into an automatic spot in NASCAR’s playoffs with the win and gave the No. 19 Toyota its first victory since 2023 when Martin Truex Jr. had the ride. Briscoe lost his job at the end of last season at Stewart-Haas Racing when the team folded and he was tabbed to replace Truex in the four-car JGR field.

Hamlin, who holds the track record with seven wins, appeared on the brink of reeling in Briscoe over the final laps only to have not enough in the No. 11 Toytota to snag that eighth Pocono win.

“It was just so hard to have a guy chasing you, especially the guy that’s the greatest of all time here,” Briscoe said.

Briscoe, who won an Xfinity Series race at Pocono in 2020, raced to his third career Cup victory and first since Darlington in 2024.

Briscoe has been on bit of a hot streak, and had his fourth top-10 finish over the last six races, including a seventh-place finish in last week’s ballyhooed race in Mexico City.

He became the 11th driver to earn a spot in the 16-driver field with nine races left until the field is set.

Hamlin finished second. Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher and Chase Elliott completed the top five.

Briscoe, a third-generation dirt racer from Indiana, gave JGR its 18th Cup victory at Pocono.

“To get here and finally deliver a win is just an awesome feeling,” he said. “To be able to get Coach in Victory Lane after taking a chance on me, it’s just so rewarding.”

Hamlin earned the top seed in the inaugural version of NASCAR’s In-season Challenge, a five-race, bracket-style tournament set to kick off next week in Atlanta.

The tournament, which comes with a $1 million prize to the winner, is part of a new media rights deal.

The final 32-driver field was set by results of the races at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono. Briscoe won the Cup race at Pocono Raceway to finalize the field.

The drivers will be paired in head-to-head matchups based on seeding, with the winners advancing to the next round in a bracket format that mirrors the NCAA basketball tourneys.

About the only certain thing in the IndyCar Series happened again at Road America — Alex Palou and his Chip Ganassi Racing crew standing in Victory Lane.

Palou stretched the fuel in his No. 10 Honda at the end to earn his sixth victory in nine starts this season, becoming the first IndyCar driver to take the checkered flag at least six times in a season since Will Power in 2011.

“It was a crazy race,” Palou said. “There were moments I thought we were losing a ton of positions. It was a tough race for everybody. Kudos to the team for the amazing strategy and Honda for giving us the fuel mileage we needed at the end to make it.”

Three-time series champion Palou expanded his lead to 93 points over Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood with the victory in a race of varying fuel and tire strategies as the season passed its halfway point, with eight races left on the 17-race schedule.

Felix Rosenqvist was unshackled from a fuel-saving strategy over the closing laps in the No. 60 Honda of Meyer Shank Racing but fell 2.1725 seconds short to finish second. Santino Ferrucci had just enough to hang on to third in the No. 14 Sexton Properties/AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, his fourth straight top-five finish this season.

TENNIS

Carlos Alcaraz showed he will be the man to beat at Wimbledon again after defeating Jiri Lehecka in the final at Queen’s Club.

The top-seeded Spaniard replicated his debut triumph on the grass courts of west London in 2023 with a 7-5, 6-7 (5), 6-2 victory.

It was an 18th-straight match win for Alcaraz — in his fifth consecutive final — following his title successes in Rome and at the French Open.

Lehecka had knocked out home hope Jack Draper on Saturday to become the first Czech finalist since Ivan Lendl won the title in 1990.

Alexander Bublik finally defeated Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 7-6 (4) to win the Halle (Germany) Open for the second time. It was his first win in seven matches with Medvedev.

The Kazakhstan player, who also won the grass-court tournament in 2023, is just the third player to claim the title more than once after three-time winner Yevgeny Kafelnikov and 10-time champion Roger Federer.

Former Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova put months of injuries behind her to beat Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu 7-6 (10), 4-6, 6-2 and win the Berlin Open.

For Vondrousova, 25, who had dropped to No. 164 in the rankings after undergoing surgery on her left shoulder, it’s her first title in her first final since winning Wimbledon in 2023.