Seize the Grey crosses finish line first at Preakness Stakes, ending Mystik Dan's run for Triple Crown
BALTIMORE (CBS/AP) -- Seize the Grey went wire to wire to win the Preakness Stakes on Saturday, giving 88-year-old Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas a seventh victory in the race and ending Mystik Dan's Triple Crown bid.
The gray colt took advantage of the muddy track just like Lukas hoped he would, pulling off the upset in a second consecutive impressive start two weeks after romping in a race on the Derby undercard at Churchill Downs. Seize the Grey went off at 9-1, one of the longest shots on the board.
Mystik Dan finished second in the field of eight horses running in the $2 million, 1 3/16-mile race. After falling short of going back to back following his win by a nose in the Kentucky Derby, it would be a surprise if he runs in the Belmont Stakes on June 8 at Saratoga Race Course.
Seize the Grey a surprise winner, but don't bet against Lukas
Seize the Grey was a surprise Preakness winner facing tougher competition than in the Pat Day Mile on May 4. Though given the Lukas connection, it should never be a surprise when one of his horses is covered in a blanket of Black-Eyed Susan flowers.
No one in the race's 149-year history has saddled more horses in the Preakness than Lukas with 48 since debuting in 1980. He had two this time, with Just Steel finishing fifth.
Lukas has now won the Preakness seven times, one short of the record held by two-time Triple Crown-winning trainer and close friend Bob Baffert, whose Imagination finished seventh. Baffert was also supposed to have two horses in the field and arguably the best, but morning line favorite Muth was scratched earlier in the week because of a fever.
"You watch him he's just gritty and he's just been constantly improving. He didn't even run in the derby - he was like third alternate," said Eric Barger, part-owner of the Seize the Grey, told WJZ. "They ran him in the Pat Day Mile and he won and that was kind of an upset also. And then they brought him here and we're so excited."
Muth's absence made Mystik Dan the 2-1 favorite, but he and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. could not replicate their perfect Derby trip to win that race's first three-way photo finish since 1947. Instead, Jaime Torres rode Seize the Grey to a win in his first Preakness.
This was the last Preakness held at Pimlico Race Course as it stands before demolition begins on the historic but deteriorating track, which will still hold the 150th running of it next year mid-construction.
That process is already well underway at Belmont Park, which is why the final leg of the Triple Crown is happening at Saratoga for the first time and is being shortened to 1 1/4 miles because of the shape of the course. Kentucky Derby second-place finisher Sierra Leone, a half step from winning, is expected to headline that field.
What is Preakness?
The 1 3/16-mile race is the middle jewel of horse racing's Triple Crown, which starts with the Kentucky Derby and ends with the Belmont Stakes. The event kicked off at 10:30 a.m. on May 18 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland.
The $2 million Preakness Stakes was the 13th of 14 races scheduled at Pimlico on Saturday.
Friday marked the 150th Black-Eyed Susan Day, a running for 3-year-old fillies. The event has long been hailed as "Ladies Day Out" in Baltimore. Gun Song won the fillies race, beating Corposo by 3 1/4 lengths.