MIDWAY, Ky. (LEX 18) — Kentucky is known for horse racing, and more people are getting a piece of the action after Seize The Grey, backed by micro-investors, won the Preakness in Baltimore Saturday.
Seize The Grey is a 3-year-old colt ridden by Jaime Torres. They won the Preakness by one minute and 56 seconds.
My Racehorse, a horse investment company, bought Seize the Grey for $300,000 and now celebrates the big win.
"A major accomplishment even getting to this race in the first place. And to win there's just so many emotions and feelings it's hard to really put it into words," says Joe Moran, the companies racing manager.
Moran says although luck and pedigree play huge roles in a winning horse, there are key factors when investing. He says, "Really going out there to try to find the best athlete."
"You want to find a horse that you think, one is gonna be durable," Moran explains. "And this was a horse when we bought him, he was one [year old] at the time, so these horses are not training or anything like that. So you're going just a lot off of pure physical."
Before hooves can even hit the race track, knowing whether a horse is champion quality or not starts at birth.
"I like them when they're running around as a yearling and they're running in a pack of horses. You can start to see the alpha male, you can start to see the horses," explains Larry Doyle, who is the owner of KatieRich Farms in Midway, Kentucky. The farm consists of 330 acres of land and several barns.
Doyle has been in the horse business for almost 30 years and has bred several winning thoroughbreds.
"When they're out there running together you can see who's running in front of the other horses. Then you can really start to get excited," Doyle describes.
A horse's prime racing age is two or three years old, depending on when it is physically ready and at its prime to win.
"You need to show something as a two year old, but you need to take your time to get him ready for that race," Doyle elaborates. "You're a stronger athlete at 24 than you are at 18, same with a horse."
Training a racehorse takes a lot of patience. A healthy diet and proper upkeep are included.
"So they come in every morning and they have their feet picked and looked at and checked and there's a vet on the farm everyday. Their temperature is checked every day to make sure they're okay," says Doyle.
At the end of the day, no amount of training or maintenance will make a horse love the race.
"The horse tells you, you know. The horse basically, you know, loves the game or doesn't love the game. And if it doesn't like to run, why make it run?," admits Doyle.
Moran says the company sees big races in Seize The Grey's future, and the Belmont race in June could be one of them.
