Seize the Grey holds off Mystik Dan to give D. Wayne Lukas historic Preakness victory

Seize the Grey, trained by 88-year-old Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas, won a historic 149th Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Saturday.

The Preakness is the second leg of thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown and falls between the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes.

The wire-to-wire victory for Seize the Grey, ridden by Jaime A. Torres, meant there will be no Triple Crown for thoroughbred racing for the sixth year in a row. Justify, in 2018, was the sport’s last Triple Crown champion.

Mystik Dan won the 150th Kentucky Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Trained by Lexington native Kenny McPeek, Mystik Dan finished second by 2 1/4 lengths Saturday as the 2-1 post-time favorite in the Preakness Stakes.

The Belmont Stakes will be contested at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York, on June 8. Typically run at a grueling 1 1/2 miles, the Belmont will match the distance of the Kentucky Derby’s 1 1/4 miles this year because of the change in venues to Saratoga resulting from renovations at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.

Lukas became the oldest trainer ever to win a Triple Crown race, capturing his seventh career Preakness Stakes victory and his 15th Triple Crown race overall.

Seize the Grey, a 9-1 choice at race time, overcame a muddy track in leading from start to finish — the first muddy track at a Preakness since 1939.

Catching Freedom, at odds of 7-2, came in third in a photo finish with Mystik Dan.

Tuscan Gold, a 4-1 choice at post time, finished fourth, followed by Lukas-trained Just Steel, Uncle Heavy, Imagination and Mugatu.

Only eight horses went to post for Saturday’s Preakness, run at 1 3/16 miles, after 20 took part in the Kentucky Derby. Muth, forced to skip the Run for the Roses because of trainer Bob Baffert’s suspension from Churchill Downs, was the 8-5 morning-line favorite for the Preakness but was scratched from the race after spiking a fever Wednesday.

That left the favorite’s role to Mystik Dan, at 5-2 on the morning line.

Muth was one of two Preakness entrants for Baffert. Imagination was the other.

Seize the Grey paid $21.60 to win, $8.40 to place and $4.40 to show.

Mystik Dan returned $4.20 to place and $2.80 to show.

Catching Freedom delivered $3.20 to show.

Seize the Grey is owned by MyRacehorse Stable, a marketplace created to allow any fan an opportunity to buy into a racehorse through the sale of “micro shares.” Shares in a horse can be purchased for as little as $100. Hundreds, even thousands of individuals can own a stake in one horse such as Seize the Grey.