Racing Roundtable: D. Wayne Lukas' 7th Preakness win, Pimlico stakes action, and more

This week, the Racing Roundtable discusses D. Wayne Lukas' seventh Preakness (G1) win with Seize the Grey, other notable stakes results at Pimlico, and what else caught their eye over the weekend.

Where does Seize the Grey's win in the Preakness rank on D. Wayne Lukas' list of training achievements?

James Scully:  It’s special. Whether it’s Jack Nicklaus coming from behind to win the 1986 Masters at age 46 or George Foreman reclaiming the heavyweight title at 45, it’s emotional when a living legend like D. Wayne Lukas scales the greatest heights at 88. Tears of joy are shed.

One of the all-time greats and a true ambassador for Thoroughbred racing, Lukas easily surpassed "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons (82) as the oldest trainer to win a Triple Crown race. And given the level of success achieved in the 1980s and 90s, winning four Eclipse Awards and nine Triple Crown races between 1985-1995, it’s remarkable to see Lukas continue to thrive at the highest levels.

Prior to 2024, Lukas had gone six years without a Kentucky Derby starter, sending out only two Derby runners since his last Triple Crown race win in 2013, and his career appeared to be waning before Secret Oath captured the Kentucky Oaks (G1) in 2022. That victory reinvigorated Lukas’ barn, enabling the veteran horsemen to restock with new owners and promising young horses, and Lukas still gets excited about the future.

Vance Hanson: Woody Allen famously said something to the effect that "80% of success is showing up." If there is one thing D. Wayne Lukas has been known for after nearly five decades at the top of the Thoroughbred game, it's been showing up. Whether his horses looked plausible on paper or not, Wayne was going to be there. In the arena. Ambitious placement generally doesn't work out, and careers have been shortened doing too much of it, but occasionally it works like a broken clock.

Not many people fancied Seize the Grey going into the Preakness, but a combination of an off track, a lack of other speed, and a modest field by historical standards were enough to give the 88-year-old Lukas his seventh Preakness win and his 15th in a Triple Crown race. My hunch is that Seize the Grey in the end is not going to stack up with Lukas' best classic winners, but will probably fit alongside 2013 Preakness winner Oxbow and 2000 Belmont S. (G1) winner Commendable, who also didn't look like solid prospects on paper but took advantage of favorable pace scenarios.

Lukas was "the man" when I first started following the sport nearly 40 years ago, and it's still fun as ever to see him in the winner's circle after a big race. Although he's long since dropped the four- or five-figure suits for more comfortable clothing, he remains as quotable as ever, has never stopped coaching, and still has a lot left to teach.

Ashley Anderson: This will likely go down as one of Lukas' more memorable Preakness victories considering the age at which he accomplished it. At 88 years old, he is the oldest trainer to win a Triple Crown race, and he did so with a horse that flew under the radar ahead of the Preakness. With the scratch of Muth, the second leg of the Triple Crown appeared more wide open but most bettors looking to back Lukas expected a frontrunning score from Just Steel, not stablemate Seize the Grey. In addition to the Arrogate colt beating seven rivals gate to wire over a muddy Pimlico track as a 9-1 longshot, Seize the Grey also earned a victory for one of the largest ownership groups in the sport, MyRacehorse. Nearly 2,500 people owned a share of Seize the Grey, which makes his Preakness win all the more unique. Also, on the opposite end of the age spectrum to Lukas, rider Jaime Torres (age 25) accomplished his first Grade 1 win on Saturday in his first Triple Crown start just two weeks after he recorded his first graded stakes victory with his triumph in the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile with Seize the Grey.

What were your takeaways from the other stakes action at Pimlico?

JS: Shot Gun Hottie impressed winning the Allaire duPont Distaff on Friday, generating a career-best 103 Brisnet Speed rating for the 5 3/4-length decision, and the daughter of Gun Runner is a candidate to keep advancing for Cherie DeVaux off the sharp performance. The five-year-old mare started to come around last summer, recording nice wins in the Molly Pitcher (G3) and Lady’s Secret at Monmouth Park before heading to the sidelines for the rest of the year, and one could argue that Shotgun Hottie didn’t like Oaklawn surface earlier this year, recording three consecutive unplaced stakes efforts prior to the duPont.

In 2015, Stopchargingmaria rebounded nicely in the duPont after dropping previous two outings, including a loss as the prohibitive favorite in the Beldame (G1). She also didn’t appear to favor certain ovals, dropping all three attempts at Belmont Park, including a pair at short odds, but Stopchargingmaria concluded the 2015 season with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at Keeneland. 

VH: She laid over the field on paper in last Friday's Hilltop S. at Pimlico, but even I was impressed by the ease at which She Feels Pretty humiliated her rivals in her season debut. It was a 5 3/4-length win for last year's Natalma (G1) heroine, who was making her first start since finishing third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1).

Trainer Cherie DeVaux said the filly would summer in New York, presumably to target races like the Belmont Oaks (G1) and Saratoga Oaks (G2), with the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) her primary target in October. It will be exciting to see her throughout the season.

AA: John Velazquez had a solid day overall on Friday at Pimlico, with a victory in the Hilltop, along with a second in the Allaire DuPont, but his biggest win came in the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) with Gun Song, who earned Velazquez a record fifth victory in the 1 1/8-mile event for three-year-old fillies. Gun Song was coming off a fourth in the Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2) and rebounded to win by 3 1/4 lengths over seven rivals. The Gun Runner filly now owns a 6-3-1-1 record and tallied her first graded stakes victory while posting a 94 Brisnet Speed figure. The win was also the first in the Black-Eyed Susan for Mark Hennig, who's a former assistant to D. Wayne Lukas, and his first graded stakes victory since 2018.

What else caught your eye from the weekend?

JS: Horses can easily hold their form on two weeks' rest in the Preakness (G1), with the top three finishers, and four of the top five, all exiting the Kentucky Derby program on May 4. And business was strong with the two-week window between Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

Saturday’s 14-race program did $99.64 million in total handle, including $57.93 million for the Preakness itself. And those numbers would be inflated if more than eight horses had lined up for the Preakness. The current Triple Crown model works well from a business perspective, but Preakness field size will continue to be a challenge for Pimlico.

VH: Props to trainer Cherie DeVaux for an outstanding day at Pimlico on Friday. In addition to the aforementioned She Feels Pretty in the Hilltop and Shotgun Hottie in the Allaire duPont Distaff, DeVaux also saddled stakes newcomer Pyrenees to a mild upset victory in the Pimlico Special (G3) over odds-on favorite Kingsbarns. All this came two weeks after DeVaux scored her first U.S. Grade 1 win, with Vahva in the Derby City Distaff (G1).

This season is only DeVaux's seventh as a licensed trainer, having spent a number of years as an assistant to Chad Brown and Chuck Simon. She's one of the rising stars in the training ranks and figures to be a face in the sport for many years to come.

AA: Sugoi got an upset win in the Grade 3 Louisville S. on Saturday, beating the heavily favored Bold Act out of Charlie Appleby's barn in the 1 1/2-mile turf event. The seven-year-old gelding was just claimed for $50,000 from Rick Hiles last month at Keeneland and instantly improved to a graded stakes champ for trainer Mike Maker. Jockey Julien Leparoux also got his fourth win in the Louisville and took advantage on the front end, slowing the pace down with fractions of :50.25, 1:15.81, 1:41.12, and 2:05:81 before crossing the wire in 2:30.37. Sugoi managed to record a career-best 101 BRIS figure, which marked a significant jump from his 85 that he posted in the claiming race at Keeneland that he won by a quarter-length, and Maker noted the United Nations (G2) at Monmouth on July 20 could be next in line for Sugoi.