Seize the Grey wires Preakness, makes history for 88-year-old Lukas

May 18, 2024 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, at the age of 88, became the oldest trainer to win a jewel of the Triple Crown in Saturday’s $2 million Preakness (G1), as Seize the Grey seized the day with a wire-to-wire upset at a muddy Pimlico. Kentucky Derby (G1) hero Mystik Dan, the 2.40-1 favorite, was a hard-trying second.

Lukas was winning his seventh Preakness, 44 years after Codex gave him a breakthrough classic score in 1980, and he now has a total of 15 Triple Crown race wins.

Seize the Grey was expertly ridden by a jockey just at the beginning of his career, 25-year-old Jaime Torres. A 2023 Eclipse Awards finalist for champion apprentice jockey, Torres was earning his first Grade 1 in a classic event.

Owned by the MyRacehorse syndicate, consisting of 2,570 people, Seize the Grey was on the Kentucky Derby trail. But when the son of Hall of Famer Arrogate was coming up short on points, Lukas opted to cut back in trip for the Pat Day Mile (G2) on Derby Day. Seize the Grey responded by capturing his first stakes.

Lukas said that the Pat Day Mile would set him up to stretch back out for the Preakness. The living legend was proved absolutely correct. In so doing, he surpassed the legendary 'Sunny Jim' Fitzsimmons, who was 82 when training fellow Hall of Famer Bold Ruler to win the 1957 Preakness.

When morning line favorite Muth was scratched with a fever, chances were that the pace scenario would be a bit softer, and the wet track was playing kindly for speed horses. Seize the Grey, a 9.80-1 shot, was the one best able to take the initiative.

Muth’s stablemate, Imagination, tried to employ the same tactic, but Seize the Grey was too quick. Splashing to the front from his better draw in post 5 while Imagination was wide from the outside post 8, Seize the Grey got away with a comfortable pace and retained command the rest of the way.

Mystik Dan stalked on the rail before tipping out to challenge turning for home. Lukas’s other runner, Just Steel, also advanced past the weakening Imagination, and Catching Freedom rallied into contention down the stretch.

Yet Seize the Grey, still galloping with gusto, held a 2 1/4-length advantage at the wire. Negotiating 1 3/16 miles in 1:56.82, the gray rewarded his backers with $21.60.

SEIZE THE GREY SEIZES THE DAY.

WATCH HIM DENY MYSTIK DAN THE CHANCE TO RUN FOR THE TRIPLE CROWN IN THE FULL 149TH PREAKNESS STAKES. pic.twitter.com/c2nLV0Ov1j

— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 18, 2024

Mystik Dan was all heart to hang on for second by a head from Catching Freedom. Tuscan Gold reported home a further six lengths adrift in fourth, and Just Steel rounded out the top five. Uncle Heavy, Imagination, and Mugatu concluded the order of finish.

Seize the Grey, from the final crop by Arrogate, is a poignant tribute to his late sire. Bred by Jamm Ltd. In Kentucky and purchased for $300,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling, he is out of the Smart Strike mare Smart Shopping, who is a half-sister to Grade 1 scorer Power Broker.

You might say that Seize the Grey has developed into a “power broker” himself, with the promise of more to come, based on his pedigree. He did well to break his maiden at Saratoga last summer, beating Mage’s brother Dornoch, and to place third in the 5 1/2-furlong Skidmore S.

Fourth in the Iroquois (G3) as the initial stop on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, Seize the Grey dropped into the allowance ranks before returning to a higher level this spring. His third in the Jeff Ruby Steaks (G3) and seventh in the Blue Grass (G1) didn’t help his Derby chances, but the Pat Day Mile signaled a turnaround at Churchill Downs, and the Preakness confirmed it.

Seize the Grey joins the honor roll of Lukas trainees to win the middle jewel. Since the aforementioned Codex, who caused a firestorm of controversy when beating Derby-winning filly Genuine Risk at Pimlico, Lukas has sent out Tank’s Prospect (1985), Tabasco Cat (1994), Timber Country (1995), Charismatic (1999), and Oxbow (2013).

Of those, Tabasco Cat was the only one to add the Belmont (G1), but Lukas has trained three other Belmont heroes in Thunder Gulch (1995), Editor’s Note (1996), and Commendable (2000). That tally equals his number of Kentucky Derby wins, courtesy of Thunder Gulch as well as Charismatic, the filly Winning Colors (1988), and Grindstone (1996).

Might Seize the Grey give Lukas another Belmont winner? And another for Arrogate, who also sired last year’s champion Arcangelo?

The third jewel of the Triple Crown, contested June 8 over 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga while Belmont Park undergoes redevelopment, will be an acid test. Kentucky Derby near-misser Sierra Leone and champion Fierceness, 15th as the Derby favorite, will be among those lying in wait for the Belmont.