Uncle Heavy, who will be ridden next weekend by Irad Ortiz Jr., received a very positive review from trainer Butch Reid on Saturday morning after turning in his final breeze for Preakness 2024 at Pimlico.
Under his regular exercise rider José Castro, Uncle Heavy covered four furlongs in 47.34 seconds at Parx Racing. It was the third-fastest time of 34 breezes at the distance at the track.
McPeek confirms Mystik Dan for Preakness 2024.
“He just worked great,” Reid said. “The track was a little bit faster up here today than it’s been because of all the moisture that we had all week. With that said, he did it very well under control. We just let him run a little bit the last eighth of a mile. He finished up there in 47 and change and came back and couldn’t blow out of match and barely took a couple of sips of water. It was just what we were looking for, and he galloped out good and strong.”
Pennsylvania-bred Uncle Heavy is a Social Inclusion colt who will make his first start since April 6, when he finished fifth after a troubled trip in the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. He has worked three times since.
Ortiz, a five-time Eclipse Award winner, will ride Uncle Heavy in the Preakness, replacing Mychel Sánchez. This will be his sixth Preakness mount. Ortiz had a pair of second-place finishes with Midnight Bourbon in 2021 and Blazing Sevens last year.
“You couldn't ask for better than Irad,” Reid said. “Irad and I have had some success over the years, so we have a good relationship. I feel very good going into the race.”
Uncle Heavy, who is owned by Michael Milam and LC Racing, is scheduled to be shipped to Pimlico on Tuesday.
Catching Freedom is 50-50 to go
Catching Freedom, the Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher, has been upgraded to “50-50” to run in the Preakness, according to trainer Brad Cox.
The winner of the Louisiana Derby (G2), which is at the same 1 3/16-mile distance as the Preakness, had another strong gallop Saturday morning at Churchill Downs under exercise rider Edvin Vargas.
Cox said Catching Freedom, who is owned by Albaugh Family Stables, would need to continue to “train well” to advance to the middle jewel of the Triple Crown.
“If he goes, I think he’ll go Monday after training,” Cox said of shipping plans.
Mugatu breezes at Belterra Park
Mugatu breezed five furlongs at Belterra Park on Saturday morning in preparation for his start in the Preakness.
The 3-year-old son of Blofeld who is owned by Average Joe Racing Stables and Dan Wells was timed at 59.6 seconds before galloping out six furlongs in 1:13.0, trainer Jeff Engler said.
“He’s ready to go,” Engler said “I’m waiting to hear back from Brook Ledge (Horse Transportation). I think they said Tuesday or Wednesday. If it’s Wednesday, it will obviously be early (in the day).”
Engler said Joe Bravo, who has ridden 5,659 winners while amassing purse earnings of $201,326,481, has the mount aboard Mugatu. Bravo, who has ridden five Preakness starters, was on Mugatu for a 3 1/2-length maiden special-weight score on Tapeta in November at Gulfstream Park. That was the only time he has ridden the Engler trainee.
Torres will be on Seize the Grey
Jockey Jaime Torres did not grow up in a horse-racing family in Puerto Rico. He fell in love with the sport when he watched on television as Authentic captured the COVID-delayed, 2020 Kentucky Derby.
Fast-forward 3 1/2 years, and Torres will make his Triple Crown riding debut next Saturday in the Preakness aboard Seize the Grey, who is trained by D. Wayne Lukas.
The colt owned by MyRacehorse gave Torres, 25, his first victory in a graded stakes when he finished first in the Pat Day Mile (G2) on the May 4 Kentucky Derby undercard.
“I have no words for it,” Torres said. “I’m very thankful for the opportunity from MyRacehorse and Wayne Lukas.”
Seize the Grey pushed the pace in the Pat Day Mile, split horses in mid-stretch and edged away late from favored Nash for a 1 1/4-length victory over Nash in front of the Derby day crowd.
“He rode a very good race on that horse,” Lukas said. “I see no reason to change. I give young riders an opportunity if they have ability. Those who look like they have a future, I don’t mind pitching in and helping. (But) you can’t lead with your heart. You have to make a business decision. I feel real comfortable with him on that gray horse. He’s real level-headed. I don’t think he’ll get caught up in the hype at all.”
Torres has said that horse racing got on his radar when his mom was flipping through the television channels and races from Puerto Rico’s Hipódromo Camarero were on. He said he went to the track the next day. But it was watching the Derby the next year that sealed his future.
“That’s when MyRacehorse won the Derby with Authentic,” he said. “When I rode Seize the Grey for the first time and saw their silks in my locker, I was like, wow, I’m going to ride for MyRacehorse and D. Wayne Lukas.”
Torres admits he did not know anything about racing horses when he showed up at Puerto Rico’s famed jockey school at the track, starting in the year-long program for exercise riders. He said he stayed for six months before flying to Florida to start working mornings for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr., but his goal all along was to ride races.
“I knew it was going to be pretty hard for me riding in Puerto Rico, because the weight is less, like 109 (pounds),” Torres said. “So, I just flew to the USA and tried to start here. To be in the (jockey) school, you have to be 105 for two years. That was kind of tough for me. I mean I’m tall.”
His first victory came Sept. 17, 2022, at Gulfstream Park on Takestwotowiggle, who paid $28.20 to win in the $6,250 claiming race. Torres subsequently was the leading apprentice in New York in 2023 with 37 victories. Among those wins was a Saratoga maiden race on Seize the Grey at 13-1 odds. That fall Torres had a good fourth the Iroquois (G3) at Churchill Downs and a third in a Keeneland allowance race before being reunited with Seize the Grey for the Pat Day Mile, which they won at 9-1.
Torres rode at Fair Grounds during the winter before joining the Kentucky circuit. Through Friday he had 145 career victories and $7,296,445 in purse earnings after riding only 20 months.
Asked about going from knowing nothing about racing to riding in a Triple Crown race just a few years later, Torres said, “It’s crazy. If someone told me that before I started, I would be like naw. I’m very happy, very blessed.”
Torres never has ridden at Pimlico but expects to have a couple mounts before the Preakness. He said he had no concerns about Seize the Grey going from the Pat Day’s one-turn mile to the Preakness’ two-turn, 1 3/16 miles.
“I think he’ll be fine. I mean, he’s by Arrogate,” he said, referencing the late stallion who won the 1 1/4-mile Travers (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Classic as a 3-year-old in 2016 and started his 4-year-old season with victories in the Gulfstream Park’s Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) and the Dubai World Cup (G1).
Lukas named new Hall of Fame inductee Joel Rosario to replace Keith Asmussen and ride Just Steel for the first time in the Preakness. After finishing second in the Arkansas Derby (G1), Just Steel was part of a resolute pace in the Kentucky Derby, tiring to 17th.
Rosario has won the Derby with Orb in 2013 and the Belmont Stakes with Tonalist in 2014 and Sir Winston in 2019. He never has won the Preakness, in which he’s had four seconds.
“He’s overdue,” Lukas said. “I think that’s a good fit. We don’t want to change the horse’s style. I don’t blame Keith for the last time, because he got in trouble (after being bumped hard early in the race) when the horse grabbed the bit and pulled him up there. So there he was on the lead or near it. We’ll try to correct that next time.”
Lukas said Flavien Prat will ride Oaklawn’s Honeybee (G3) winner Lemon Muffin, eighth in the Kentucky Oaks (G1), in Friday’s Black-Eyed Susan (G2) at Pimlico.
