Back in 1995, only a master of spin control would have called Just Ask Mike a racehorse. The gelding had failed to hit the board in three lifetime starts while exhibiting a running style best described as uninterested.

Just Ask Mike was clearly not cutting it on the ultra-competitive Southern California circuit. Maybe he was perpetually exhausted from all those long nights spent translating “The Iliad” or trying to find someone (Hey, you with the long face!) to discuss quantum physics.

So he ran the numbers, did a cost/benefit analysis and determined a career change was in order. Just Ask Mike was not just another failed racehorse, you see.

He was a nerd.

Fifteen years after finishing 10th of 11 horses in his racing swan song, a maiden claiming race at Santa Anita, Just Ask Mike, now known as Lukas, is an Internet sensation, listed on Google, Yahoo and the World Records Academy as the “World’s Smartest Horse.”

A year ago, Lukas’ owner, Karen Murdock, began posting videos of the now 17-year-old gelding doing various tricks she had taught him — spelling words, counting, pivoting 180 degrees on three legs, bowing, retrieving, shaking his head “yes” and “no” — on the popular video sharing website YouTube. Within days, Murdock began receiving e-mails and interview requests from all over the country.

Lukas has appeared on “Inside Edition” and MSNBC as well as numerous local television news programs, and filming was recently completed on a documentary chronicling his life from racetrack bust to equine Einstein.

Last month, Lukas was filmed for a possible shoutout in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Horse That Can Identity the Most Numbers in One Minute.”

Accompanied by a film crew, an official scorekeeper and several witnesses, Lukas and Murdock took their marks in a round pen at Brookside Equestrian Center in Walnut, Calif., where Lukas lives. To warrant Guinness consideration, Lukas was required to point with his nose at whatever number one through five Murdock randomly called out. Murdock was not allowed to use equipment, a halter, praise or touch.

The gelding was able to identify the correct number at least 18 times.

“The scorekeeper said 20, but I think he skimmed two of them,” Murdock said.

Trick Training

Murdock, a retired psychiatric nurse who lives in Chino Hills, about 30 minutes from Santa Anita, was looking for a low-level dressage prospect when she bought Lukas out of a hunter/jumper barn nine years ago. After his racing career, he had changed hands a few times, never quite fitting into whatever slot he was pegged.

“He wasn’t going to work out as an amateur’s jumper,” Murdock said. “I was really impressed when I first saw him. He had very soulful eyes and a nice bearing. He was inquisitive and pleasant.”

Because she was working full-time, Murdock sent Lukas to a local trainer, a move she now regrets.

“It was almost like he snapped,” Murdock said. “He came back extremely sullen, and he was spooking so bad you couldn’t even take him out of his stall safely.”

Murdock decided to try a technique she used often in her medical career — behavior modification through patience and positive reinforcement — to help Lukas recover from his bad experience. She had used “trick training” with dogs and horses before, often with a clicker.

“I’ve always enjoyed the trick training, and I’ve had great success with using the clicker as reinforcement,” Murdock said. “I found it was a good way to bond and connect with the animals.”

The change in Lukas’ personality, Murdock says, was dramatic.

“The shift in his attitude was amazing,” she said. “Pretty soon, he would start initiating the games himself and want to continue. It was an insatiable type of curiosity.”

Murdock’s training methods echoed the “modeling” techniques used by Dr. Irene Pepperberg, an animal psychologist whose work with Alex, an African gray parrot, was documented in the book “Alex and Me.” Before Alex, Pepperberg wrote, scientists believed a large primate brain was needed to handle complex problems related to language and comprehension. Pepperberg also believed that Alex, who had a vocabulary of 150 words, had not even reached his full potential by the time of his death at age 31 in 2007.

In addition to his counting skills, Lukas is able to discern different shapes. He can spell his name, Murdock’s name, and, most important, the name of the man who pays for his feed — Murdock’s husband, D-O-U-G.

Lukas can also identify which object is missing when Murdock removes something, a skill known as “absentness” that has only been identified in primates and parrots, such as the aforementioned Alex.

‘Not That Exceptional’

Lukas’ feats have put him on par with Beautiful Jim Key, a long-forgotten equine star of the early 20th century. A standardbred/Arabian cross who has inspired several books and a documentary, Jim Key entertained audiences across the country with his astonishing ability to read, spell, tell time and, according to his website, beautifuljimkey.com, cite Bible passages and debate politics.

With a website to update and maintain (playingwithlukas.com), invitations to events such as Equine Affaire and America’s Family Pet Expo to answer and interviews leading up to the pending Guinness decision, Lukas might have to consider hiring a personal assistant.

“We got famous by not trying,” Murdock said. “My only intention in posting those videos was to show people what horses are capable of doing. I see people going to Europe to spend all this money on horses, when we have a huge supply of wonderful horses right here we can make use of that are happy and willing to do a job.”

Murdock would like to believe that other horses are capable of attaining what Lukas has already accomplished.

“I do wonder if other horses would respond with the same kind of training,” she said. “You don’t want to discourage people from trying it. Actually, I’d like to think he’s not that exceptional.”

Words which might prompt Lukas to respond with the first trick Murdock ever taught him.

A smile.