The Preakness Stakes winner Seize The Grey drops back in distance for the Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile during the World Championships at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in California on Saturday, November 2.
Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas has never won the $1,000,000 race at the annual end of season meet. Since making most of the running at Pimlico, Seize The Grey tried to win another Triple Crown race.
He couldn’t add to his favorable Preakness Stakes result in the Belmont Stakes, however. This was despite that event having a shorter distance than normal of 2,000m at Saratoga while Belmont Park has its renovation work done.
After a disappointing seventh there, Seize The Grey didn’t make the show in the Grade II Jim Dandy Stakes either. Lukas freshened him up after running fourth in Upstate New York and he bounced back.
Seize The Grey then made all in the 1,800m Grade I Pennsylvania Derby at Parx, punching his ticket to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. With obvious doubts about his stamina based on those Saratoga performances over the summer, it’s a logical route for the MyRacehorse Syndicate to follow with their grey.
The same offshore betting sites that offer prices on the Preakness Stakes have Seize The Grey at generous Morning Line odds of 10-1 for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. There are more fancied runners against him, though, according to oddsmakers.
Which Horses Run Against Seize The Grey in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile?
A field of 14 horses go for the 14th and final race of the World Championships on the West Coast. Chief among those, according to Morning Line odds, is Domestic Product (7-2) for the Chad Brown barn. He got a run in the Kentucky Derby, a race that Seize The Grey just missed the cut for.
Neither Brown nor Lukas have even won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, but Domestic Product has improved since a never-threatening 13th at Churchill Downs by turning about past form with Hades in the Grade III Dwyer Stakes at Aqueduct. He then struck at the highest level with victory in the 7f H Allen Jerkens Memorial at Saratoga.
Also favored over Seize The Grey on the Morning Line are three others horses. Saffie Joseph Jr’s Skippylongstocking (4-1) concedes 3lb weight for age to the three-year-olds in the line-up, alongside Saudi Crown (5-1) from the Brad Cox barn. The latter trained Knicks Go to Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile glory back in 2020.
Skippylongstocking was an impressive winner of the Grade II Charles Town Classic in West Virginia, but now drops back in distance. Saudi Crown went close to living up to his name with a length third in the Saudi Cup out in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia this past winter. Their presence in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile ensures stamina should play its part.
Baffert Barn Out for First Success
One of the big California barns targeting Del Mar is Bob Baffert and he runs Muth (9-2) against Seize The Grey. He placed behind Fierceness at this meet in the Juvenile dirt race 12 months ago and landed the Arkansas Derby this spring.
Like Lukas and Brown, Baffert has never won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. After giving Muth a prep race in Listed company at Del Mar in early fall which he won, he needs to bounce back after trailing in last of six in the Grade I California Crown Stakes at Santa Anita Park last time.
Mufasa and Post Time (both 12-1) follow Seize The Grey, according to oddsmakers. The former landed the Grade III Vosburgh Stakes at Aqueduct in some style, but a Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile demands more.
Post Time for the trainer-jockey duo of Brittany and Sheldon Russell has been pretty consistent this year. A good second in the Metropolitan Handicap, he didn’t stay further when third in the Grade I Whitney Stakes also at Saratoga.
Apart from John Sadler’s Pacific Classic runner-up Full Serrano (15-1), the rest of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile field have Morning Line odds of 30-1. Seize The Grey is an obvious contender in an open-looking edition.
With around half the field not fancied for any involvement in the show, Lukas could make history aged 89 as the oldest trainer of a winner at the World Championships.
Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile 2024 Draw & Morning Line Odds
- Saudi Crown (Florent Geroux, Brad Cox, 126lbs) 5-1
- T O Saint Denis (Ryusei Sakai, Daisuke Takayanagi, 126lbs) 30-1 [JPN]
- Full Serrano (Joel Rosario, John Sadler, 126lbs) 15-1
- Katonah (Frankie Dettori, Doug O’Neill, 126lbs) 30-1
- Three Technique (Rafael Bejarano, Jason Cook, 126lbs) 30-1
- Seize The Grey (Jamie Torres, D. Wayne Lukas, 123lbs) 10-1
- Tumbarumba (Luis Saez, Brian Lynch, 126lbs) 30-1
- Post Time (Sheldon Russell, Brittany Russell, 126lbs) 12-1
- Domestic Product (Flavien Prat, Chad Brown, 123lbs) 7-2 fav
- Muth (Juan Hernandez, Bob Baffert, 123lbs) 9-2
- Cagliostro (Jose Ortiz, Cherie DeVaux, 126lbs) 30-1
- Mufasa (Tyler Gaffalione, Ignacio Correas IV, 126lbs) 12-1
- Pipeline (John Velazquez, Cherie DeVaux, 126lbs) 30-1
- Skippylongstocking (Irad Ortiz, Saffie Joseph Jr, 126lbs) 4-1
