Seize the Grey out of Travers, will go to Pennsylvania Derby
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Seize the Grey, the Preakness winner who has run poorly in his two most recent starts at Saratoga, will skip the Travers Stakes here on Aug. 24 and instead point to the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx on Sept. 21, trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Tuesday.
Lukas said the principal partners in Seize the Grey, MyRacehorse, which owns the horse, and Gainesway Farm, which will stand the horse at stud following his racing career, met on Monday and came to the decision to point to Pennsylvania, Lukas said.
“He hasn’t handled this racetrack in two starts, so point him to the Pennsylvania Derby,” Lukas said. “I didn’t argue with that, I said, ‘That’s fine, just tell me where you want to run him and I’ll get him ready.' ”
Following his victory in the Preakness, Seize the Grey finished seventh, beaten 10 3/ lengths by Dornoch in the Belmont Stakes, and fourth, beaten 12 lengths by Fierceness in the Jim Dandy.
On Monday, Seize the Grey worked five furlongs in 1:01.55 over the Oklahoma training track in Saratoga.
“I took a little bit off because I didn’t know where I was going,” Lukas said. “I didn’t want to work in 58 [seconds] and find out I’m running in the Travers.”
Le Dom Bro, second to Dornoch in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream in March, was also declared out of the Travers on Tuesday by trainer Oscar Gonzalez. Recent winner of a one-mile allowance at Gulfstream Park, Le Dom Bro was being pointed to the Travers, but came out of a Monday morning workout at Palm Meadows, a training center in South Florida, with a problem and will likely be sidelined for a month, according to Gonzalez.
Doc Sullivan, also nominated to the Travers, is being pointed to the $250,000 Albany Stakes for New York-breds on Aug. 25, trainer Mike Miceli said Tuesday.
The Travers will be drawn on Sunday, but the field of eight is pretty well set. With riders, the Travers will likely be Batten Down (Junior Alvarado), Corporate Power (Javier Castellano), Dornoch (Luis Saez), Fierceness (John Velazquez), Honor Marie (Tyler Gaffalione), Sierra Leone (Flavien Prat), Thorpedo Anna (Brian Hernandez Jr.), and Unmatched Wisdom (Irad Ortiz Jr.).
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