“It doesn’t get old. It’s still the same. In 1980 I had the first one here I ever ran, and it still feels the same.” – D. Wayne Lukas

 

The legend, the coach, D. Wayne Lukas sent out his seventh Preakness Stakes (G1) winner and first in a decade when SEIZE THE GREY, owned by the syndicate MyRacehorse, and his young rider Jaime Torres stole away with the second leg of the American Triple Crown at fabled Pimlico racetrack.

The 149th Preakness had its big star, Kentucky Derby (G1) winner MYSTIK DAN but lost its morning line favourite MUTH, the Arkansas Derby (G1) winner, mid-week due to a temperature. The eight-horse field also drew Derby fourth Catching Freedom plus Muth’s mate Imagination, Uncle Heavy, Tuscan Gold, the Lukas-trained pair of Seize the Grey and Just Steel, and Mugatu. Three of those had won a graded stakes race and, at least to bettors, had a reasonable chance to upset the Derby winner.

Add in the fact the track was a sea of slop to begin the day and muddy-turning-to-good by Preakness time, well, it wasn’t a surprise that Mystik Dan was a tepid 5-to-2 favourite. Did the Derby win take enough out of him to be vulnerable and was there enough speed for him to launch a rally?

Seize the Gray, who won the  one-turn Pat Day Mile (G2) on the May 4 Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill Downs, set solid fractions of 23.98 and 47.33 seconds for the first half mile under jockey Torres, who was participating in his first Triple Crown race. Imagination, who was saddled by eight-time Preakness winner Bob Baffert, was closest in pursuit along the front stretch and around the first turn followed by Lukas’ other trainee Just Steel. Mystik Dan, ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., saved ground in fifth before slowly advancing on the backstretch.

Seize the Grey continued to lead by open lengths along the backstretch as Imagination weakened and Mystik Dan and Catching Freedom loomed as the most serious dangers to the Lukas trainee. The son of Arrogate – Smart Shopping by Smart Strike, however, would seemingly get stronger as he went in the stretch before crossing the finish line with speed to spare. Mystik Dan was unable to pose a serious threat while finishing along the inside but the 5-2 favourite was able to hold off Catching Freedom by a head.

The final time was 1:56.82.

“It doesn’t get old. It’s still the same. In 1980, I had the first one here I ever ran, and it still feels the same,” said Lukas, whose first Preakness win came in his 1980 debut with Codex. He also won with Tank’s Prospect (1985), Tabasco Cat (1994), Timber Country (1995), Charismatic (1999) and Oxbow (2013).

Seize the Grey has some 2,750 owners who bought up 5,000 shares in the grey colt as a yearling for $127 each. MyRacehorse, founded in 2016, has had hundreds of horses owned by thousands of people who buy-in for the entertainment.

“Isn’t that something, to make that many people happy? It’s a helluva concept. It really is. To see that many people happy in racing is really special,” Lukas said. “I’m happy, but I love the fact I could make them happy.”

Lukas, who has saddled the winners of 4,930 races and more than $295 million in purses, is the winner of 15 races in the Triple Crown series. The four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer, who still gets up on his pony during morning training hours, was inducted into Thoroughbred Racing’s Hall of Fame in 1999 for producing many, many moments like Seize the Grey’s 9-1 upset victory over a muddy track at Pimlico Race Course.

Jockey Torres was watching horse racing on television in his homeland of Puerto Rico in 2019, quit high school and graduated from jockey school. He came to the US to ride and was a finalist for the Eclipse Award for Champion Apprentice in 2023.

PEDIGREE NOTE: Seize the Grey, a $300,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling purchase from breeder Jamm, Ltd., now a winner of four of 10 races, is by the late world champion Arrogate. His dam Smart Shopping is by Canadian-bred Grade 1 winner and leading sire Smart Strike. Smart Shopping had a record of four starts, 1-0-2 as she won her debut at Churchill Downs and was third in the Suncoast Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs.

Seize the Grey is the third foal of Smart Shopping, who has one other winner and one unraced offspring.

SECOND DAM Shop Again, by Wild Again, won the Ada Stakes and is the dam of Grade 1 winner Power Broker, who took the Front Runner takes at two in 2012. The THIRD DAM is Shopping, dam of  Grade 1 winner Miss Shop, Trappe Shot, a Grade 2 winner, and stakes winner Bought in Dixie.

 

 

Tags: 149th Preakness Stakes, D. Wayne Lukas, Jaime Torres, MyRacehorse, Seize the Grey,

More from Canadian Thoroughbred: