There will be no Triple Crown winner this year. Seize the Grey and Jaime A. Torres dominated at a muddy Preakness and denied the Kentucky Derby winner, Mystik Dan, a shot of becoming the 14th horse to win the Triple Crown.
The 2024 Preakness Stakes was hosted at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, Maryland. It is known to be the shortest of the three Triple Crown races, at 1 3/16 miles, or 9 ½ furlongs, since almost 1925. The purse for the 149th Preakness Stakes was the highest in the race history, with a purse of $2 million. The number increased by $500.000 from last year’s $1.5 million purse in 2023.
The Preakness Stakes Race
Early on before Saturday’s night race, and after a rainy day in Baltimore, Pimlico officials downgraded the track condition to “muddy.” Just hours before the race, there was a lighting forecast in the area, with a slight chance of thunderstorms for the moment the horses were scheduled to be out of the gate. In the end, the horses could race, and however muddy the track was, the race was safe from a thunderstorm. Watch the full race.
Mystik Dan, the Kentucky Derby winner, got off to a good start out of the gate, but Seize the Grey took the lead and ran from start to finish without allowing anyone to pass him until the end. The rest of the horses tried to keep up with him, and towards the end, on the last curve, Mystik Dan appeared to compete for the lead with Seize the Gray, but it was not enough. Mystik Dan finished second.
On a very muddy field, and considering his fatigue from the Kentucky Derby, Mystik Dan could not secure the first place that would have given him the chance to win the Triple Crown, while Seize the Grey ran a magnificent race. With determination and a lot of heart, he took the top prize along with his skillful jockey, Jaime A. Torres.
Seize the Grey won the 2024 Preakness Stakes, and as a result, the owners? MyRacehorse, which sells public shares of the horse — got the big prize of $1.2 million.
A Day to Remember for Trainer D. Wayne Lukas
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas made history; at 88, he became the oldest trainer to win a Triple Crown race. Luka’s thoughts during the race were, “Watch out. He’s not gonna quit,” he stated when interviewed by NBC after the race.
Seize the Grey maintained the lead for almost all of the race. The suspense increased as Mystik Dan closed the gap in the final stretch. But D. Wayne Lukas remained confident in his horse’s ability, said he didn’t believe the horse would stutter, and asserted that his horse performed exceptionally well coming out of the far turn.
USA Today enunciates, “He still wakes up every morning at 3:30 to get to the barn. He still gets on the pony every day to watch his horses train. And though his operation isn’t the coast-to-coast behemoth it once was as he’s aged into his late 80s, D. Wayne Lukas is still the Stetson-and-sunglasses-wearing embodiment of what Thoroughbred racing is all about”.
“Train ’em hard. Give ’em a shot. Maybe, just maybe, win a big one. It’s never changed for Lukas, from winning his first Preakness with Codex in 1980 until he did it again Saturday for the seventh time with Seize The Grey, informed USA Today.
Mystik Dan trainer Kenny McPeek credited Seize the Grey trainer D. Wayne Lukas on the NBC broadcast on Saturday, expressing that he idolized Lukas and that “it’s fine” to get beat by him. McPeek also told NBC that he is proud of his team, including the horse, for preparing Mystik Dan for the race. “(I’m) proud of him, and it just wasn’t his day, but look, he’ll live to race again,” he said.
No Triple Crown Winner in 2024
With no Triple Crown winner possible this year, Bob Baffert‘s trained Justify remains the last horse to achieve the unusual deed since 2018. Justify was the first horse to win the Triple Crown since American Pharaoh, also trained by Baffert, was crowned in 2015.
An interesting fact from this year’s Preakness Stakes is that Bob Baffert’s trained horse, Muth, was one of the favorites for the 2024 race but was scratched after suffering a 103-degree fever. “We are sick about this. The horse had been doing well,” Baffert said earlier this week. “But we have to do what’s right by the horse”, said in an interview with US Today.
National Treasure was last year’s Preakness Stakes winner, also trained by Bob Baffert. Now, Seize the Gray is one of the eight horses trained by Baffert that won the Preakness.
Preakness Stakes Results and Odds
Stands
- Seize the Grey
- Mystik Dan
- Catching Freedom
- Tuscan Gold
- Just Steel
- Uncle Heavy
- Imagination
- Mugatu
Odds
- Mugatu, Joe Bravo, 20-1
- Uncle Heavy, Irad Ortiz Jr., 20-1
- Catching Freedom, Flavien Prat, 7-2
- Muth (scratched)
- Mystik Dan, Brian Hernandez Jr., 8-5
- Seize the Grey, Jaime Torres, 12-1
- Just Steel, Joel Rosario, 12-1
- Tuscan Gold, Tyler Gaffalione, 9-2
- Imagination, Frankie Dettori, 3-1
What is the Triple Crown in horse racing?
The Triple Crown is undoubtedly the pinnacle of American Thoroughbred horse racing. It refers to the three major races: the prestigious Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes. When a horse triumphs in all three races within a year, it’s unequivocally proclaimed the Triple Crown victor.
Triple Crown winners
Since 1875, when the Kentucky Derby was established, 13 horses have been crowned triple champions after winning what’s officially called the Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing. They are:
- Sir Barton (1919)
- Gallant Fox (1930)
- Omaha (1935)
- War Admiral (1937)
- Whirlaway (1941)
- Count Fleet (1943)
- Assault (1946)
- Citation (1948)
- Secretariat (1973)
- Seattle Slew (1977)
- Affirmed (1978)
- American Pharoah (2015)
- Justify (2018)
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