D. Wayne Lukas uses Just Steel to Take Aim at Preakness

Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas intends to send two runners to Pimlico for the Preakness, as he has done numerous times in the past.

Lukas stated that Seize the Grey was en route to the Preakness after the colt won the Pat Day Mile Stakes (G2) on Saturday at Churchill Downs. Just Steel, who finished 17th in Saturday's Kentucky Derby, is also a Preakness prospect, according to confirmation from Lukas, 88, on Monday.

“We'll bring both of ours,” Lukas stated. “We will be there on Monday.”

Six times, Lukas has saddled 46 starters for the 1 3/16-mile Preakness. Thirteen times, he has started two or more horses in the event.

Just Steel, co-owned by BC Stables and Henry Schmueckle and the son of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify, started the Derby under jockey Keith Asmussen in second place but faded in the stretch. Lukas observed that the horses that were leading the race early suffered damage from the early sectors of 22.97 seconds and 46.63.

“It was too much, much too early. No way,” he remarked Monday.

For $500,000, Just Steel was bought as a yearling. His record is 12: 2-4-1, and he makes $724,45.

Just Steel came in second in the Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn Park on March 30, trailing Muth, the Preakness favourite, by two lengths and Mystik Dan, the winner of the Kentucky Derby, by 4 1/4 lengths. 

MyRacehorse's Seize the Grey is a colt by Arrogate, the 3-year-old champion who did not participate in the Triple Crown events in 2016. Seize the Grey's first stakes victory came in the Pat Day Mile.

Although Lukas had intended to enter Seize the Grey in the Derby as well, he decided to go with the Pat Day after realising the colt lacked the necessary qualifying points to enter the race. Seize the Grey was purchased by MyRacehorse for $300,000 at the Saratoga select yearling sale in 2022. His record is 9: 3-0-3, and he makes $619,938.