RACING CAREER

With a good bit of experience having raced nine times, Seize the Grey started at Ellis Park in July by breaking slow and never threatening at six furlongs. A shocking win second time out at Saratoga over Dornoch put this colt on the map, following that try up with a show in the Skidmore Stakes. 

These showings were enough for D. Wayne Lukas to put this grey colt into the Derby trail early in September in the Iroquois. Going a mile in that try at Churchill, Seize the Grey started slow and drifted out in the stretch, good enough for fourth against better competition. A pair of solid if unspectacular allowance tries followed, with his first win past a mile coming at Oaklawn Park in late February.

Seize the Grey

Arrogate – Smart Shopping, by Smart Strike

Career Record: 9-3-0-3

Trainer: D. Wayne Lukas

Owner: MyRacehorse

Breeder: Jamm LTD.

Career Earnings: $619,938

Lukas decided to put Seize the Grey back on the trail, this time settling mid pack in the Grade III Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway. Once again, he didn’t have enough to make up ground late, settling into third by four lengths. To this point, Seize the Grey appeared to be a notch below the top stakes competition he had faced, once again showing very little in the Blue Grass by finishing seventh. 

Failing to qualify for the Derby, Lukas entered this colt into the Pat Day Mile on Derby day at Churchill, where he ran by far and away his best race to date. Finally breaking through at the stakes level was a big step, but the change in running style put him close to a grueling early pace where he still had enough in the tank to launch an impressive stretch run. Seize the Grey will need to build off that effort to be in the mix at Pimlico, but look for returning jockey Jaime Torres to be aggressive early in hopes of a Pat Day repeat.

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BLOODLINES

In his short breeding career, 2016 Champion Three-Year-Old Arrogate has produced quite a few standout thoroughbreds. Belmont and Travers winner Archangelo is at the top of the list, but D. Wayne Lukas trained Secret Oath was similarly successful, running fourth in the 2022 Preakness after a win in the Kentucky Oaks. Perhaps the real standout in Seize the Grey’s pedigree is with Smart Strike as the broodmare sire. As a sire, Smart Strike produced two Preakness winners in Curlin and Lookin at Lucky, but as a broodmare sire, two Derby winners in Mine That Bird and Rich Strike. Even after his passing, he remains one of the top broodmare sires in North America and that continues with the recent graded stakes win by Seize the Grey. 

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

On entering Seize the Grey into the Preakness for owners MyRacehorse following his dazzling Pat Day Mile win, D. Wayne Lukas told Pimlico News “We have nothing to lose. He earned his way to run in the Preakness. He’s qualified for it. He’s nominated for it. So why wouldn’t we give those people that opportunity? That’s what we’re getting paid for, to make that many people happy. If he pulls up well and everything is good tomorrow and the next day, we’ll strongly, strongly consider the Preakness.”

It is easy to be confident in Seize the Grey’s ability to stretch in distance considering the pace he was up on last time out, and even with short rest, he can be competitive at a price with a similar effort.