Just Steel

Just Steel was a $500,000 yearling purchase and began his racing career in summer 2023 with a fifth-place effort at Ellis Park. He then made three consecutive starts at the elite Saratoga Race Course meet for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, finishing second and then scoring his first win in a six-furlong sprint by a nose. The Justify colt finished up his run at the Spa with a seventh-place finish in the Grade 1 Hopeful Stakes at seven furlongs where he contested the early pace before tiring in the stretch.

The colt made his two-turn debut in the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity in October at Keeneland and once again tired to finish sixth after leading early, and when cutting back to a sprint distance finished a disappointing third as the favorite in a seven-furlong race at Churchill Downs on a sloppy track. As it turned out, that set him up for a breakthrough stakes win, as Just Steel rallied from off the pace to take the 6 ½-furlong Ed Brown Stakes by 2 ½ lengths Nov. 25 at Churchill.

Lukas tried Just Steel around two turns for his 3-year-old debut Jan. 1 in the Smarty Jones Stakes, and he ran a solid second after taking the lead in early stretch. The colt earned five qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve with the effort. He was back for a second start in an Oaklawn Kentucky Derby points race in the Southwest Stakes on Feb. 3, and once again ran second, this time earning 10 more qualifying points. He subsequently finished seventh in the $1 million Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn on Feb. 24.

Just Steel completed his tour of Oaklawn's four 3-year-old stakes races on the road to the Kentucky Derby in the $1.5 million Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on March 30 and turned in perhaps his best effort yet to finish second by two lengths in a 10-horse field going 1 1/8 miles. With that runner-up finish, Just Steel earned 50 Derby qualifying points and secured himself a spot in the starting gate in the run for the roses on the first Saturday in May.

Just Steel is out of the Group 1-winning Australian-bred mare Irish Lights, by Fastnet Rock, who also produced two other stakes winners.