RACING CAREER

Sold for half a million as a yearling, Just Steel started with high expectations for D. Wayne Lukas, but lost by sixteen lengths first time out at Ellis Park going five and a half furlongs. Running next at Saratoga at the same distance, he improved his break and finished second, winning in his third try on August 5th. 

With the quick improvement, Just Steel was entered into back to back grade I races in Saratoga’s Hopeful and Keeneland’s Breeders’ Futurity. Unfortunately, he was a bit outmatched in both races, fading late into seventh and sixth place respectively. Returning to a shorter seven furlong distance next time out in an allowance try got him back on track at Churchill, setting himself up for a strong win in the Ed Brown Stakes in November.

Just Steel

Justify – Irish Lights (AUS), by Fastnet Rock (AUS)

Career Record: 12-2-4-1

Trainer: D. Wayne Lukas

Owner: BC Stables LLC and Henry Schmueckle

Breeder: Summerhill Farm

Career Earnings: $724,545

While Just Steel had shown some inconsistency, Lukas put him on the Derby trail in the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn where he ran an admirable second to Catching Freedom. Going past eight furlongs seemed like a stretch, but he once again ran in another prep in the Southwest, this time finishing second to Mystik Dan who romped in the mud to an eight length victory. 

After breaking poorly in the Rebel and finished seventh, Just Steel ran by far his best race by finishing second to Muth in the Grade I Arkansas Derby. He stalked the leaders which had become his best running style, and ended as the only runner who stayed with Muth in the stretch. Still without a win past seven furlongs, Just Steel was entered into the Kentucky Derby off of the strength of his Arkansas Derby, but fell apart at a mile as all of the forwardly placed runners did. After a seventeenth place finish there, he had more questions than answers going into the Preakness as a likely big longshot for the coach.

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BLOODLINES

Just Steel’s sire Justify, the last horse to win the Triple Crown, certainly gives him a perceived leg up on the rest of the Preakness field from a pedigree perspective. When looking at his progeny, there have been few major standouts, although his first grouping was born in 2020. Just F Y I is his most accomplished North American runner, most recently finishing second in the Kentucky Oaks. 

As he is just beginning in stud, Justify will continue to be a prolific sire and should soon produce more graded stakes winners. Fastnet Rock, an Australian bred colt, has had more success as a broodmare sire than a sire at stud. Over seventy stakes winners have been produced by his daughters, still as one of the top broodmare sires in the Southern Hemisphere and leading by winners in Australia. The half a million dollar price tag for Just Steel largely lies in the early breeding success of Fastnet Rock as much as it does the pedigree of Justify.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING

Trainer D. Wayne Lukas discussed the decision to ease Just Steel into the Preakness without a work between races. He told Pimlico News “I’ve done it both ways. In my Preakness winners I’ve tried different things. You have to read the horses and both of these horses came back very, very well. In fact, Just Steel is actually seems sharper to me this week than he did the prior week to the Derby. So what we’ll do is just monitor him every day. It’s a day-to-day decision when training horses. You read, and see what you think they need and don’t need. So I probably will let him extend himself a couple of days, but I don’t think I’ll work him. I think he had a hard six furlongs in that race. And I think I won’t work him, but he’ll go to the track every day and he is sharp. So we’ll play it day by day.”

With six Preakness victories already under his belt, Lukas looks to enter a tie with Robert Walden for second most wins as a trainer with seven. Bob Baffert currently has a record eight Preakness wins, as Just Steel will likely be running with Muth and Imagination in the early goings with a chance to give Lukas his first Woodlawn Vase since 2013.