Things are not always as they might seem when it comes to the Triple Crown.
A case in point:
At the June 3 post position draw for the June 8 Belmont Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course, Seize the Grey drew the rail in a field of 10 3-year-olds. That’s the same Seize the Grey who posted a gate-to-wire, 2 1/4-length victory May 18 in the Preakness Stakes (G1).
So, from that spot, where getting shuffled back is a real concern, it seems logical that jockey Jaime Torres would hustle the MyRacehorse colt out of the gate intent on the lead.
Not so, according to trainer D. Waye Lukas, the sport’s 88-year-old living legend.
“He’s not one-dimensional. We can play off the break,” Lukas said June 4 outside his deserted barn at Saratoga occupied by just Seize the Grey. “We can do whatever we want. We can lay third, fourth, fifth. Maybe he’ll be on the lead. He’s very manageable. We’ll let them decide what they want to do and we’ll play off what they do.”
The pace looms a key question in the mile-and-a-quarter Belmont as Seize the Grey, Dornoch (post 6), Mindframe (post 9), Antiquarian (post 5), Resilience (post 2), and The Wine Steward (post 4) all have done their best racing while on or within a length or two of the lead.
While who will be on the early lead has some mystery attached to it, Lukas maintains rather strongly that Seize the Grey bounced out of the Preakness in great shape and that the son of Arrogate is heading into the Belmont sharper than he was for the Preakness.
“I thought I had him dead fit for the Preakness, but since then he’s acted fitter and sharper. I think he’s in a better position to run here than in the Preakness,” the Hall of Famer said.
Lukas has won the Preakness seven times and the Belmont four times, but his only victories in the second and third legs of the Triple Crown in the same year came in 1994 with Tabasco Cat.
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