I'm in two minds with this one. I dislike seeing hard work considered as just good luck, however, I also remember I went through university with extremely minimal work, but can't play properly an instrument after years and years of practice. We need to work to get a great result, but we also do have some better aptitudes at things rather than others. I'd feel like a jerk telling someone that everyone can get a PhD with little overall work ; but I would also hate if someone tell me I would be better at playing music if only I had practiced.
Plus, I've seen people praising the hard work more in the way to say "obviously you had to work extra hard compared to average, because you are not very good at this", pretty derogatory..
So.. At the end, whatever people say we don't really know what they mean or why they say it like the way they do.. Personally I would not react badly to any comment either praising my abilities or the amount of work I put in the praised thing, and just hope it was with good intentions.