Seize the Grey (USA)
April 21, 2021 – Living
Arrogate (USA) x Smart Shopping (USA), by Smart Strike (CAN)
Family 8-h
April 21, 2021 – Living
Arrogate (USA) x Smart Shopping (USA), by Smart Strike (CAN)
Family 8-h
A US$300,000 yearling purchase for the microshare partnership MyRacehorse.com, Seize the Grey gave his 2,570 owners thrills with a Classic victory in the 2024 Preakness Stakes (USA-G1). The front-running colt added a second Grade 1 win in the Pennsylvania Derby before retiring to stud at the end of the 2025 racing season with earnings of over US$2.4 million.
Race record
14 starts, 5 wins, 0 seconds, 3 thirds, US$2,425,938
2023:
2024:
Assessments
Rated at 117 pounds in the Mile and Intermediate categories on the 2024 Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, 11 pounds below overall highweight City of Troy (the European Horse of the Year) and 8 pounds below the top-rated 3-year-old male on dirt, American champion 3-year-old male Sierra Leone.
As an individual
A strongly-made gray horse, Seize the Grey was at his best when running on or close to the lead. He is said to have been an easy-going, laid-back youngster that never gave any trouble while being trained to race. Intelligent and interested in observing his surroundings, he thrived on routine but liked learning new things as he was quick enough mentally to become bored easily.
As a stallion
Seize the Grey entered stud in 2025.
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Seize the Grey was bred by Audrey Otto’s JAMM, LTD. He sold for US$300,000 through the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale to MyRacehorse.com, which campaigned him under the handling of National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. He was ridden to his Preakness win by Jaime Torres. In July 2024, MyRacehorse.com announced that 90 percent of Seize the Grey’s breeding rights had been sold to Gainesway Farm, with the other 10 percent being retained by MyRacehorse.com. Seize the Grey entered stud in Kentucky in 2025 at Gainesway.
Pedigree notes
Seize the Grey is inbred 5x5x3 to two-time American champion sire Mr. Prospector. He is the third foal of stakes-placed Smart Shopping, a half sister to 2012 Front Runner Stakes (USA-G1) winner Power Broker (by Pulpit) and stakes winner Fierce Boots (by Tiznow).
Shopping Smart, in turn, is out of the stakes-winning Wild Again mare Shop Again, a half sister to 2007 Personal Ensign Stakes (USA-G1) winner Miss Shop (by Deputy Minister), dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Tin Type Gal (by Tapit). Shop Again is also a half sister to 2011 True North Handicap (USA-G2) winner Trappe Shot (by Tapit), and Grade 2-placed listed stakes winner Bought in Dixie (by Dixieland Band). In addition, she is a half sister to Shop Here (by Dehere), dam of Grade 2-placed stakes winner Fifth Avenue (by Monarchos) and second dam of Grade 2 winner Imprimis.
Shop Again and her siblings were produced from the winning Private Account mare Shopping, whose full sister Private Vixen is the second dam of Brazilian Group 3 winner Diyarbakir. Produced from the winning Majestic Prince mare Impish, whose dam Lady Be Good was a foundation mare for Ogden Phipps, Shopping is also a half sister to multiple Grade 2 winner Lay Down (by Spectacular Bid) and Grade 3-placed stakes winner Karly’s Harley (by Harlan). In addition, Shopping is a half sister to I Pass (by Buckpasser), dam of 1988 Vosburgh Stakes (USA-G1) winner Mining (by Mr. Prospector), and to Snap Selection (by Judger), dam of stakes winner Plans Awry (by Topsider) and second dam of New Zealand Group 2 winner What Can I Say. Finally, Shopping is a half sister to Naughtiness (by Cox’s Ridge), dam of 1998 Grande Prêmio Gervasio Seabra (BRZ-G2) winner Widowhood (by Eastern Echo) and second dam of Brazilian Group 3 winner Clara Baby.
Books and media
Footage of Seize the Grey's win in the Preakness Stakes can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEvI9I0Frx0.
Fun facts
Last updated: March 22, 2025
Race record
14 starts, 5 wins, 0 seconds, 3 thirds, US$2,425,938
2023:
- 3rd Skidmore Stakes (USA, 5.5FD, Saratoga)
2024:
- Won Pennsylvania Derby (USA-G1, 9FD, Parx Racing)
- Won Preakness Stakes (USA-G1, 9.5FD, Pimlico)
- Won Pat Day Mile Stakes presented by SAP (USA-G2, 8FD, Churchill Downs)
- 3rd Jeff Ruby Steaks Stakes (USA-G3, 9FA, Turfway Park)
Assessments
Rated at 117 pounds in the Mile and Intermediate categories on the 2024 Longines World’s Best Racehorse Rankings, 11 pounds below overall highweight City of Troy (the European Horse of the Year) and 8 pounds below the top-rated 3-year-old male on dirt, American champion 3-year-old male Sierra Leone.
As an individual
A strongly-made gray horse, Seize the Grey was at his best when running on or close to the lead. He is said to have been an easy-going, laid-back youngster that never gave any trouble while being trained to race. Intelligent and interested in observing his surroundings, he thrived on routine but liked learning new things as he was quick enough mentally to become bored easily.
As a stallion
Seize the Grey entered stud in 2025.
Connections
Foaled in Kentucky, Seize the Grey was bred by Audrey Otto’s JAMM, LTD. He sold for US$300,000 through the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale to MyRacehorse.com, which campaigned him under the handling of National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. He was ridden to his Preakness win by Jaime Torres. In July 2024, MyRacehorse.com announced that 90 percent of Seize the Grey’s breeding rights had been sold to Gainesway Farm, with the other 10 percent being retained by MyRacehorse.com. Seize the Grey entered stud in Kentucky in 2025 at Gainesway.
Pedigree notes
Seize the Grey is inbred 5x5x3 to two-time American champion sire Mr. Prospector. He is the third foal of stakes-placed Smart Shopping, a half sister to 2012 Front Runner Stakes (USA-G1) winner Power Broker (by Pulpit) and stakes winner Fierce Boots (by Tiznow).
Shopping Smart, in turn, is out of the stakes-winning Wild Again mare Shop Again, a half sister to 2007 Personal Ensign Stakes (USA-G1) winner Miss Shop (by Deputy Minister), dam of multiple Grade 3 winner Tin Type Gal (by Tapit). Shop Again is also a half sister to 2011 True North Handicap (USA-G2) winner Trappe Shot (by Tapit), and Grade 2-placed listed stakes winner Bought in Dixie (by Dixieland Band). In addition, she is a half sister to Shop Here (by Dehere), dam of Grade 2-placed stakes winner Fifth Avenue (by Monarchos) and second dam of Grade 2 winner Imprimis.
Shop Again and her siblings were produced from the winning Private Account mare Shopping, whose full sister Private Vixen is the second dam of Brazilian Group 3 winner Diyarbakir. Produced from the winning Majestic Prince mare Impish, whose dam Lady Be Good was a foundation mare for Ogden Phipps, Shopping is also a half sister to multiple Grade 2 winner Lay Down (by Spectacular Bid) and Grade 3-placed stakes winner Karly’s Harley (by Harlan). In addition, Shopping is a half sister to I Pass (by Buckpasser), dam of 1988 Vosburgh Stakes (USA-G1) winner Mining (by Mr. Prospector), and to Snap Selection (by Judger), dam of stakes winner Plans Awry (by Topsider) and second dam of New Zealand Group 2 winner What Can I Say. Finally, Shopping is a half sister to Naughtiness (by Cox’s Ridge), dam of 1998 Grande Prêmio Gervasio Seabra (BRZ-G2) winner Widowhood (by Eastern Echo) and second dam of Brazilian Group 3 winner Clara Baby.
Books and media
Footage of Seize the Grey's win in the Preakness Stakes can be accessed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEvI9I0Frx0.
Fun facts
- Seize the Grey’s win in the 2024 Preakness Stakes made 88-year-old D. Wayne Lukas the oldest trainer to have won an American Triple Crown Race. The colt was the legendary trainer’s seventh Preakness winner over a span of 44 years (beginning with Codex in 1980), putting Lukas into second place behind eight-time winner Bob Baffert as the winningest Preakness trainer of all time.
- Microshares in Seize the Grey were originally offered at US$127 per share. Each share represented a 0.02 percent interest in the horse.
- Seize the Grey was given his name as the result of a naming contest organized by MyRacehorse.com. The name plays on his coloration and the popular adage “Seize the day (carpe diem),” which dates back to the first-century BCE Roman poet Horace and encourages actively taking advantage of each new day’s opportunities rather than waiting for another time that may never come.
Last updated: March 22, 2025