Seize The Grey turned over Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan to clinch Classic honours for jockey Jaime Torres and trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Catching Freedom sat further back in third.
Sunday 19 May 2024 13:37, UK
Seize The Grey denied Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan further Classic glory as he landed the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on Saturday.
Owned by micro-share syndicate MyRacehorse and trained by D. Wayne Lukas, Seize The Grey had won the Pat Day Mile on the Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill Downs at the start of the month and he made light work of the extra furlong and a half in the second leg of the American Triple Crown.
Jockey Jaime Torres grabbed the lead early in the race, with Seize The Grey building up a couple of lengths advantage before staying on strongly in the straight to repel Mystik Dan by two and a quarter lengths, with Catching Freedom a further head back in third.
Lukas was securing his seventh Preakness win following Codex (1980), Tank's Prospect (1985), Tabasco Cat (1994), Timber Country (1995), Charismatic (1999) and Oxbow (2013).
He told www.pimlico.com: "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."
Of the 2,570 shareholders in MyRacehorse, the trainer added: "Isn't that something, to make that many people happy? It's a hell of a concept. It really is. To see that many people happy in racing is really special. I'm happy, but I love the fact I could make them happy."
Mystik Dan's trainer Kenny McPeek was magnanimous in defeat saying: "He ran good. Wayne's amazing. What can you say? Stolen on the front. He said he was going to go.
"I think Brian (Hernandez Jr, jockey) made the right move. Obviously, speed held. That's why they call it horse racing, right?"
