Emma Michele Lucas, a Huntsville native and University of Kentucky student, got a good start to her summer break at the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore on May 18.
Lucas, 19, was an investor in Seize the Grey, the horse who won the second Triple Crown race of 2024. It was Lucas's second recent investment in a Triple Crown race winner. She also invested in the 2023 Kentucky Derby winner, Mage.
Lucas, a Covenant Christian Academy graduate and equine science and management major at the University of Kentucky, said in a recent interview with 1819 News after the Preakness Stakes win, "We didn't really know what to expect going in."
Seize the Grey ended up winning the race in wire-to-wire fashion. Emma attended the race with her mother, Michele Fisher Lucas.
"Right as he crossed the line I was like, 'Mom, we've got to go. We've got to go. We've got to go to the winner's circle.' We were one of the first ones over there," Emma said.
Michele said Emma grew up in Huntsville riding horses and fox hunting. She eventually developed a passion for horse racing at a young age.
"It was beautiful. He ran with authority. It was a wonderful, beautiful race," Michele said. "The best part of the whole thing was just seeing that beautiful animal have such a great race and to see Emma just, you know, it's wonderful when you have a passion for something and then you see things happen that make you feel like you're moving in the right direction."
In addition to being a college student and working at Hill 'N' Dale Farms in Kentucky, Emma is the founder and CEO of EML Racing International, which offers bloodstock consulting services to buyers and sellers of racehorses. The company is also invested in micro shares of 28 racehorses in the United States and England with plans to expand to Japan and Australia by 2025.
Other team members at EML Racing International include Emma's fellow classmates at the University of Kentucky: Mina Clay, Mary Seney, Danielle Eisemann, and Jess Licausi.
Both of her investments in Triple Crown race winners, Mage and Seize the Grey, were made through micro share companies, Commonwealth and MyRacehorse. The companies allow investors to get the thrill of having an ownership stake in a horse without dropping six or seven-figure investments through the traditional ownership route.
"Some are larger percentages than others. Some might be like .5%. Some might be even .05%. Others we end up having 2% or 3% of because we buy up large amounts of them," Emma said.
Early micro shares in Seize the Grey before his Preakness win were priced at around $140 per share, according to multiple media reports. Emma said her company owns about 1% of Seize the Grey.
"We started with MyRacehorse investing in micro shares in horses. It was a way for me to get my foot in the door with the industry and I certainly learned a lot from them," Emma said. "We still have quite a few horses with them. We're looking to expand and to invest larger investment wise and less micro share, but we still have quite a lot of horses with MyRacehorse and we've enjoyed our experience with them. We're going to keep investing with these micro share companies as well as looking to get into bigger investments."
Seize the Grey's next race will occur at the Belmont Stakes on June 8 at Saratoga Race Course in New York. Emma said she feels good about the horse's chances at the last Triple Crown race of the year.
"Seize the Grey's debut win was at Saratoga against Dornoch which will also be running in the Belmont so as far as I'm concerned, I think that he likes the track. It's really just he's less fresh than the other horses are," Emma said. "A lot of the other ones have had a bit of a layoff. They're not as tired, but at the same time Seize the Grey has run five times in a very small amount of time. He's not had a very big layoff in the past five races that he's ran which I've been a bit worried about but clearly, he doesn't care. The thing is that he's shown that he deserves to be believed in. He's shown that he can do well under pressure."
To connect with the author of this story or to comment, email caleb.taylor@1819News.com.
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