It was exhilarating watching 17-1 longshot Dornoch win the Belmont Stakes in front of a sold-out crowd of 50,000, but leading up to the big race there was no question that a different horse was stirring up the most excitement around town.
Yup, Seize the Grey—with his 2,570 micro-share owners—was the hands-down crowd favorite.
“It was so exciting to watch Seize the Grey run in The Belmont Stakes,” says Saratogian and micro-share owner Deborah Durso, who watched the race in the 1863 club with her husband, Stephen. “It’s been such an exciting experience, and seeing him here later this summer should be fantastic.”
Like all of Grey’s owners, Durso bought in via MyRacehorse, an ownership platform that allows horse racing fans to buy shares of a racehorse for as little as just under $100 (Seize the Grey was $127). After you commit, the app sends you constant news items and behind-the-scenes tidbits on your horse, including real-time updates on race days, revving up excitement and creating a connection. There are even app-exclusive excursions such as private tours of training grounds, meaning that many of Grey’s owners had met him prior to the Triple Crown races.
“These owners bought Seize the Grey at Fasig-Tipton two years ago when he was a yearling,” says MyRacehorse strategist Shona Rotondo. “So they bought him as a baby and watched him grow up as he went through the training process and learned how to be a racehorse. He ran his first race and it was kind of impressive, and then he broke his maiden and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I think I have a good horse here.’”
After Grey won the Preakness, so many owners traveled to Saratoga for the Belmont that a pre-party at The Night Owl sold out in 30 minutes. Devoted fans such as Saratogian Sue Jeffreys went to morning workouts every single day for an “I love you!” ritual for both Grey and his training rider whom they know by name (Miguel). And there was some angst about who’d go to the Winner’s Circle if he won after NYRA declined to create a contingency plan for the more than 400 owners at the track that day.
Even though in the end Grey didn’t win, place or show, his legion of micro-owners remain wide-eyed.
“It’s been a rollercoaster because sometimes he didn’t do so well, and then he came back and ran really well again,” Rotondo says of Grey. “Then to go on to win a Grade 2 race on Kentucky Derby Day, then go on to win the Preakness, and then to have a shot at winning another Triple Crown race…it was absolutely mind-blowing—the stuff dreams are made of.”