Lukas is 'strongly leaning' to Belmont with Preakness winner

So good that the 88-year-old Hall of Famer was leaning even more toward sending Seize the Grey to the Belmont Stakes, a race that Lukas has won four times at 1 1/2 miles but never under next month's unprecedented circumstances caused by the rebuilding of Belmont Park.

"We'll definitely consider it," he said. "A couple of factors. You know the fact that it's a mile-and-a-quarter this year. It's at Saratoga. I like that. I like the Saratoga surface. The whole situation at Saratoga I like. We run there every year with our stable, and I'm sure that those officials will be contacting us. I would say at this point we're strongly leaning in that direction."

Lukas said he would not fully commit to the June 8 race until after he got Seize the Grey back to Churchill Downs in Kentucky on Monday, a day later than he normal.

"I gave him an extra day," he said. "We were going to leave this morning at 5 a.m. Yesterday after the race I got to thinking about it. I thought, you know what? Why are we rushing out of here? We'll give him an extra day. He's out there grazing right now, so we'll let him have a little grass and take life easy."

It has been a whirlwind for the 3-year-old Arrogate colt owned by 2,570 holders of 5,000 micro-shares sold for $127 each by MyRacehorse. Seize the Grey won the Grade 2 Pat Day Mile on the May 4 undercard to the Kentucky Derby, the race that produced Preakness runner-up Mystik Dan and third-place finisher Catching Freedom.

The last time the top three Preakness finishers came in with only a two-week break since their last starts was 2013, when the first five across the finish line came out of the Derby. Thanks to Oxbow's 15-1 upset that year, it also was the last time Lukas won a Triple Crown race until Saturday.

"It's always the horse," Lukas said. "It gets down to whether you've got a horse that can bounce back like that. This particular horse has done remarkably well."

Lukas is not reluctant to wheel horses back off short rest. When he did it in the 2018 Preakness, Bravazo came charging through the fog to put a scare into Justify, losing by only a half-length. It was as close as Justify ever came to defeat on his way to the Triple Crown, an early retirement and the Hall of Fame.

Despite being unafraid to put plenty of races onto his horses' past performances, Lukas has been a proponent of spreading the Triple Crown series beyond its traditional five-week framework. He has suggested keeping the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May, moving the Preakness to the first Saturday in June and running the Belmont Stakes around the Fourth of July.

That, he said Sunday, is more about humans than horses, especially when one day's hero skips an upcoming Triple Crown race and vanishes for most of the summer.

"On a two-week break from the Derby to the Preakness, we lose a little bit of the fan base because it comes up too quick," Lukas said. "These fans want to relate. Now they'll jump on the bandwagon with this horse. They want to relate and follow him down through a program. When they don't get (another race quickly), now they wait to the Travers (G1), for example, with some of these. It takes some of the strong fan base away."

Lukas has had his own fan base for a long time. Now, at 88, he is developing a whole new following of racegoers who cannot help but appreciate how age is just a number for him. No one looks more raring to go on a stable pony nearly every morning than D. Wayne Lukas.

He also has his old friends and former pupils who have become appreciative rivals. His post-race encounters Saturday with vanquished trainers Bob Baffert and Kenny McPeek were especially gratifying to Lukas, especially in the maelstrom on the way to the infield winner's circle.

A respectful and great moment at the track: @BobBaffert congratulated D. WAYNE LUKAS on the way to the Winner's Circle, following SEIZE THE GREY big win in the Preakness Stakes

Un gran momento de respeto y admiración: BOB BAFFERT y su esposa felicitan a D WAYNE LUKAS luego de… pic.twitter.com/qcvFijb3lS

— Agentes305 (@agentes305) May 19, 2024

"That was really the highlight of the whole presentation for me," he said. "It's unexpected. I've had a great camaraderie with those guys all along the years. I've tried over the years with those guys and Nick Zito and all of them to try to keep that relationship strong. And it has been strong. For them to go out of their way, it wasn't too easy to get to us right there at that moment. That really meant a lot."

With new owners such as MyRacehorse to replace the loyal clients whom he has outlived, Lukas's career is getting a second wind. Maybe even a third. As rewarding as another classic win was this weekend, his voice really brightens when he talks about the 2-year-olds whom he will put on the racetrack this summer at Saratoga.

"I really feel good about them," he said. "I've had them just long enough now that we're breezing them a little bit, and they're impressive. Which one it will be or more than one or none, we'll get them sorted out. With what I've seen so far, and with my experience and everything, I'm pretty impressed."

The names will come soon enough from Lukas, who clearly has been invigorated with Saturday's success and the promise of more to come.

"That's what you need," he said. "If you've got to look down that shed row and train the same $20,000 or $10,000 claimer every day, those guys are admirable. Just recycling those types of horses and everything, I don't know if that fits me."