“There will be no horse racing for the Triple Crown in 2024.”
Seize The Grey won the 149th Preakness Stakes at a muddy racecourse in Baltimore, Maryland, edging out Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan and six other horses to win.
Before the race, all eyes were on Mystik Dan and the race track itself, as some rain before the event forced officials to downgrade the track to muddy conditions, which was the first time the track had been muddy for the Preakness in 85 years.
With its victory, Seize The Grey denied Mystik Dan a chance at the Triple Crown, one of the most coveted accomplishments in sports.
However, Mystik Dan came in at second, and appeared to be gaining on Seize The Grey towards the end of the race before the victor pushed ahead to hold on to its lead as it crossed the finish line.
Catching Freedom came in close behind Mystik Dan at third place. Seize The Grey and its team took home the top prize from the Preakness’ $2 million purse this year.
That compares to a $5 million purse at this year’s Kentucky Derby and a $1.5 million purse for last year’s Preakness winner.
A crash course on the economics of modern racehorse ownership. Julie Hobson bought a 0.02 percent share of Seize The Grey for $127.
When the horse won the Preakness Stakes, she and every other micro share owner earned $158 of the $2 million purse.
But Hobson also spent $2,000 just to get to Baltimore after her flight was delayed from her home in northern California. The night before the big race, her daughter wondered if they ought to give up.
“No way, she thought. You only live once,” Hobson said. “You only can live this dream.”
It took her nearly two grand in the red, but Hobson found herself in a place someone with such a small investment in racing would almost never find herself: the winner’s circle.
Through the microtransaction service MyRacehorse, 2,570 people had bought a share of Seize The Grey.
According to MyRacehorse founder and CEO Michael Behrens, 512 people applied for ownership privileges traditionally given only to deep-pocketed backers by tracks where their horses race.
Hobson was among the lucky few who, after the NBC cameras had cleared, was welcomed into the circle with a spirited chant of “Seize The Grey!”
“This is what it’s all about,” Hobson shouted as she squatted in the front row, sloshing around a nearly empty wineglass. “Right, everybody?”
Seize The Grey went wire to wire to win the Preakness Stakes, giving 88-year-old Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas a seventh victory in the race.
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 Kentucky 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 running in the 1 3/16-mile race. After falling short of winning, it would be a surprise if he runs in the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Racecourse.
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 Muth was scratched earlier in the week because of a fever.
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. Instead, Jaime Torres rode Seize The Grey to a win in his first Preakness.
This was the last Preakness at Pimlico Racecourse 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.
“I think they’re trying to get rid of me,” Lukas said. “They probably want me to retire. I don’t think that’ll happen.”
For Seize The Grey’s jockey Jaime Torres, it was his first Preakness win. He only went to jockey school in Puerto Rico in 2022 and was quite emotional.
“I’m very excited, very excited,” Torres said. “I’m very thankful to all the people who have been behind me, helping me.”
Going into the race, Mystik Dan was the favorite, with 5-2 morning line odds, after Muth had to be scratched, bringing the total number of horses to eight.
Muth was trained by Bob Baffert, a Hall of Famer, and the trainer for Imagination, who was also seen as a contender in the race, but ultimately came in seventh. Imagination came into the race tied as the runner-up odds favorite, along with Catching Freedom, at 6-1.
Mugatu, the horse named after Will Ferrell’s Zoolander” character, came in tied for the lowest odds, along with Uncle Heavy, at 20-1 odds. Mugatu finished last at eighth.
Here is the full leaderboard: 1, Seize The Grey; 2, Mystik Dan; 3, Catching Freedom; 4, Tuscan Gold; 5, Just Steel; 6, Uncle Heavy; 7, Imagination; and 8, Mugatu.
Last of the three races for the Triple Crown is the 156th Belmont Stakes.
