D. Wayne Lukas targets Preakness with Just Steel

As he has done many times in the past, Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas plans to bring two runners to Pimlico for the Preakness.

After Seize the Grey captured the Pat Day Mile Stakes (G2) Saturday at Churchill Downs, Lukas said the colt was headed to the Preakness. Lukas, 88, confirmed Monday that Just Steel, who was 17th in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby, also is a Preakness prospect.

“We'll bring both of ours,” Lukas said. “We will be there Monday.”

Lukas has saddled 46 starters for the 1 3/16-mile Preakness, winning six times. He has started two or more horses in the race 13 times.

Just Steel, a son of 2018 Triple Crown champion Justify co-owned by BC Stables and Henry Schmueckle, sat second under jockey Keith Asmussen for the first mile of the Derby but faltered in the stretch. Lukas noted that the early fractions of 22.97 seconds and 46.63 took a toll on the horses who were prominent early in the race.

“It was too much, much too early. No way,” he said Monday.

Just Steel was purchased as a yearling for $500,000. He has a 12: 2-4-1 record and earnings of $724,545.

In the Arkansas Derby (G1) at Oaklawn Park March 30, Just Steel finished second, two lengths behind Muth, the likely favorite in the Preakness, and 4 1/4 lengths in front of Mystik Dan, the Kentucky Derby winner.

Seize the Grey, owned by MyRacehorse, was sired by the 2016 3-year-old champion Arrogate, who did not compete in the Triple Crown races that year. The Pat Day Mile was Seize the Grey’s first stakes victory.

Lukas had hoped to have Seize the Grey in the Derby, too, but he opted for the Pat Day when he figured that the colt did not have enough qualifying points to make it into the field. MyRacehorse bought Seize the Grey for $300,000 at the 2022 Saratoga select yearling sale. He has a 9: 3-0-3 record and earnings of $619,938.