BALTIMORE — D. Wayne Lukas labored his technique to Take hold of the Gray then his horse received the Preakness Stakes and saved getting interrupted by way of well-wishes providing congratulations.
“I think they’re trying to get rid of me,” Lukas mentioned. “They probably want me to retire. I don’t think that’ll happen.”
Now not when the 88-year-old Corridor of Repute professor helps to keep profitable big-time races.
Take hold of the Gray ended Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan’s Triple Crown bid Saturday by way of going cord to cord to win the Preakness, giving Lukas his 7th victory within the race, one trim of the file held by way of just right good friend Bob Baffert.
“I’m only one behind him — I warned him already,” Lukas mentioned. “It never gets old at this level, and I love the competition. I love to get in here with the rest of them.”
The strapping gray colt took benefit of the muddy monitor simply as Lukas was hoping he would, pulling off the disappointed in a moment consecutive important get started two weeks then romping in a race at the Derby undercard at Churchill Downs. Going off at 9-1 as one of the vital longest photographs at the board, Take hold of the Gray moved to the supremacy instantly out of the origination gate and not regarded again, completing 2 1/4 lengths forward of Mystik Dan in 1:56.82.
“I thought his action down the backside was beautiful, and I knew that he was handling the track,” Lukas mentioned. “I said, ‘Watch out, he’s not going to quit.'”
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.
“My colt’s a fantastic colt and proud of him,” professor Kenny McPeek mentioned. “It just wasn’t his day, but he’ll live to race again.”
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 and winning that one with Codex. He had two in this time, with Just Steel finishing fifth, but Seize the Grey — owned by 2,570 people involved in the MyRacehorse group — delivered the victory.
“I just couldn’t be happier for every single one of them,” MyRacehorse founder and CEO Michael Behrens mentioned. “We had some big expectations, but this exceeds all those expectations.”
Seize the Grey paid $21.60 to win, $8.40 to place and $4.40 to show. Mystik Dan paid $4.20 and $2.80 after finishing a head in front of third-place Catching Freedom, who paid $3.20 to show.
Baffert, who was looking for a record-extending ninth Preakness victory, was supposed to have two horses in the field, but morning line favorite Muth was scratched earlier in the week because of a fever. Baffert’s Imagination finished seventh.
“He is still learning,” Baffert mentioned. “I think we are learning his style. I saw a lot today that I can change going forward. I don’t think he wants to run like that. We didn’t really have a plan. We thought it would be Wayne or us.”
Muth’s absence made Mystik Dan the 2-1 favourite, however he and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. may no longer mirror their best possible Derby commute to win that race’s first three-way photograph end since 1947. In lieu, Jaime Torres rode Take hold of the Gray to a win in his first Triple Crown race of any type, simply two years then origination to experience.
“I have no words,” mentioned Torres, a local of Puerto Rico who didn’t start racing till visual it on TV in overdue 2019. “I’m very excited, very excited and very thankful to all the people that have been behind me, helping me.”
This was once the utmost Preakness held at Pimlico Race Path because it stands ahead of shatter starts at the ancient however deteriorating monitor, which can nonetheless accumulation the a hundred and fiftieth working of it then 12 months mid-construction.
That procedure is already properly underway at Belmont Ground, which is why the general leg of the Triple Crown is going on at Saratoga for the primary past and is being shortened to one 1/4 miles as a result of the situation of the route. Kentucky Derby second-place finisher Sierra Leone, a part step from profitable, is predicted to headline that grassland, despite the fact that Lukas mentioned he’d wait to look about Take hold of the Gray additionally working.
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AP horse racing: https://apnews.com/hub/horse-racing
