The racing fates can be very whimsical at times. The wire-to-wire victory of Seize the Grey in Saturday's Preakness Stakes (G1) was an historic one, making 88-year-old D. Wayne Lukas the oldest trainer to win a leg of the Triple Crown, more than 40 years after his first victory in such a race (Codex in the 1980 Preakness).
While the Preakness marked a triumph of longevity, however, it also provided a sad reminder of one taken far too young. That's because the winner comes from the third and final crop of the twice World Champion Racehorse Arrogate. Arrogate earned the status of an all-time great with consecutive victories in the Travers Stakes (G1), which he took by 13 1/2 lengths in track-record time; the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1), as a 3-year-old, defeating older Horse of the Year California Chrome; the Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) by 4 3/4 lengths in a track record; and unforgettably, the Dubai World Cup (G1), where he scored by 2 1/2 lengths from eventual Horse of the Year Gun Runner despite completely blowing the start, and at one point trailing the leaders by upwards of 10 lengths.
Arrogate retired as the principal hope of the continuation of the Unbridled's Song branch of the Fappiano line, although Unbridled's Song is currently represented in Kentucky by other grade 1 sires Liam's Map and Cross Traffic . But Arrogate made a slow start with his first juveniles, and the 2021 leading freshman sires table showed him back in 11th, with not a single black-type horse among his 35 starters. Predictably, given his own career arc as a runner, things improved dramatically the following year, and the record now shows that crop producing eight stakes winners, four graded, and headed by the Kentucky Oaks (G1) heroine Secret Oath and Fun to Dream, whose successes include the La Brea Stakes (G1).
Arrogate's second crop proved more precocious, with standout juveniles Cave Rock—who tragically died at 3—scoring brilliant triumphs in the Del Mar Futurity (G1) and American Pharoah Stakes (G1) and taking second in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1); and And Tell Me Nolies, who was successful in the Del Mar Debutante Stakes (G1) and Chandelier Stakes (G2). The following year the same crop was represented by champion 3-year-old colt Arcangelo , who put together consecutive triumphs in the Peter Pan Stakes (G3), Belmont Stakes (G1), and Travers Stakes (G1) before retiring to stand at Lane's End Farm near Versailles, Ky., in 2024.
The third crop, the last sired by Arrogate prior to his death in June 2020, has already produced five stakes winners, and in addition to Seize the Grey, they include the Street Sense Stakes (G3) scorer Liberal Arts. Overall from three crops and with 227 starters, Arrogate has sired 22 stakes winners (10% to starters), 13 graded, six grade 1 winners, and two classic winners (three, including Secret Oath as a filly equivalent). Surely it's the record of an outstanding stallion in the making.
Seize the Grey's dam, Smart Shopping, ran just four times, but her first races at 2 resulted in a win in a Churchill Downs maiden special weight and a black-type third in the Suncoast Stakes. A daughter of Smart Strike, Smart Shopping has made a bright start to her breeding career. Her only other starter prior to Seize the Grey is the American Pharoah filly Shoppingforpharoah, a 2-year-old winner who also took second in the Blue Norther Stakes on the grass.
Smart Shopping is half sister to a top-class performer in Power Broker (Pulpit), a 6 1/2-length winner of the FrontRunner Stakes (G1) at 2, and successful in the Indiana Derby (G2) and Easy Goer Stakes at 3. Smart Shopping is out of Shop Again, winner of the Ada Stakes at Remington Park but a half sister to a far more distinguished runner in Miss Shop. A daughter of Deputy Minister—sire of the second dam of Arrogate—Miss Shop captured the Personal Ensign Stakes (G1), and earned places in four other top-level events, including seconds in the Ruffian Handicap (G1) and Go For Wand Handicap (G1). She's subsequently produced the Tapit filly Tin Type Gal, who was successful in the Miss Grillo Stakes (G3T) and Boiling Springs Stakes (G3T). Shop Again is also a half sister to Trappe Shot, winner of a trio of black-type events, including the True North Handicap (G2), and beaten just a nose in the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap (G1); and to the stakes-winning and graded stakes-placed Bought in Dixie. Another half sister, Shop Here, was only an allowance winner but is the dam of the grade 2-placed Fashion Stakes winner Fifth Avenue, and granddam of the multiple graded stakes winning turf sprinter Imprimis and stakes winners Shoplifted and Eloquist.
Shop Again is out of Shopping, a three-time winner by Private Account who has turned out to be a significantly better producer than she was a runner. Shopping was bred by Claiborne's Arthur Hancock, but she comes from a long-term Phipps female line. Her dam, Impish, is dam of two stakes winners and granddam of the brilliant sprinter Mining, winner of six of his seven starts, including the Vosburgh Stakes (G1). Impish was out of the major Phipps foundation mare Lady Be Good.
Winner of the Colleen Stakes and National Stallion Stakes, and a full sister to the good sprinter Time Tested, Lady Be Good was by Better Self (by La Troienne's only son, champion Bimelech), and had War Admiral and his very close relative Seaplane 3x4. Lady Be Good is the dam of four stakes winners, including the Swaps Stakes victor Disciplinarian and Discipline, who won the Test Stakes, Demoiselle Stakes, and Molly Pitcher Handicap. In addition, Lady Be Good is an ancestress of more than 30 group/grade 1 winners, including Epsom Derby (G1) winner Motivator, Goodbye Halo, King Halo, Squander, Val's Prince, Burning Roma, Zilzal, Awe Inspiring, Culture Vulture, Polish Precedent, Finest City, Posse (the European-raced horse of that name), and Menhoubah.
Seize the Grey is a product of the cross of an Unbridled line stallion over a Smart Strike mare, a pattern that had already produced classic winner Mine That Bird, the 50-1 upset winner of the 2009 Kentucky Derby.
