Seize The Grey has had a fantastic start to his career including a big win in Saratoga over top 2YO Dornoch (full brother to Kentucky Derby winner, Mage) and becoming stakes-placed at Saratoga in the Skidmore Stakes, and hitting the board in the G3 Iroquois at Churchill Downs, earning him points to next year's Kentucky Derby.
That said, few Arrogates have even had their debut by this point in their career, including his sire himself, the great Arrogate, and this year's Belmont winner and Breeders Cup Classic entrant, Arcangelo. Although Ceasar again placed in his last out and defeated some good horses, his interests feel it may be a good time to give him a break so he can return from his freshening ready to fire for his 3YO season.
Here's the update we received from MRH.
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Seize the Grey has been in good physical order since his third-place finish at Keeneland on Oct. 14. He received a 69 Beyer Speed Figure which was a slight regression from his previous races. He returned to work this past Sunday, eight days removed from his race, covering a maintenance half mile in :49 flat.
Circling back at his effort 11 days ago, in our team's opinion it was a bit of a flat effort. With five races under his belt this year as a 2-year-old, we believe a freshening would do this colt a world of good. Being by the late Arrogate, who did not make his debut until the spring of his 3-year-old season, we feel Seize the Grey will only improve and develop further physically with a break from training. At this stage of his young career, he will need to improve in order to make a run in the Kentucky Derby and while the timing will be close to get him back in contention for Kentucky Derby points, we feel strongly that the only way we will get him to compete with the top class three year old’s next season is by giving him a break now. To continue on in training now with the idea of having a full campaign as a 3-year-old is a long shot.
Since timing is going to be critical with our current plan, we are going to send him to Highlander training center in Sulphur Springs, Texas. The main reason behind this is that Highlander offers the ability to train and get him up to a half-mile before his return to Mr. Lukas which would likely be at Oaklawn. Due to weather at Oaklawn in the winter and inconsistent training schedule at times, it is crucial to have a horse fit to a certain extent prior to arriving there rather than attempting to get fit at Oaklawn.
He gave us a big thrill as a 2-year-old breaking his maiden at the prestigious Saratoga which is not an easy task and we are even more excited as to what his 3-year-old campaign will bring. Seize the Grey’s amount of time of turnout is to be determined based on how he progresses, but we expect it to be between 30-60 days before starting up in training again.
Highlander is a phenomenal facility which rests on 190 acres that has a 5/8th’s-mile training track and a unique one-mile and three-eighths turf gallop. In addition, their therapeutic center offers an above ground and below ground aquatred, cold saltwater spa and more. The Highlander team has done a great job for our Edge Racing program over the last few years and was responsible for some of the prep work of top Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies contender Chatalas for MyRacehorse trainer Mark Glatt.
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| Photo credits Debbie Stuebe Lee |
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