Standing outside his barn at Churchill Downs on Sunday morning, trainer Kenny McPeek was asked to sum up his feelings about MYSTIK DAN‘s victory in the 150th running of the $5-million Kentucky Derby (G1) on May 4.
“Wow,” was all the Lexington native could say.
Lance Gasaway, 4 G Racing, and Daniel Hamby III’s Mystik Dan, ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., pulled off an 18-1 upset in Saturday’s Run for the Roses, finishing a nose ahead of 4-1 Sierra Leone, who was nose in front of 7-1 Forever Young (JPN).
‘Wow’ was what many of the reported 156,710 on-track patrons were saying as Hernandez used a ground-saving trip before guiding Mystik Dan through a tiny space that opened along the rail to the front. They passed a tiring Track Phantom, then staved off a closing rush from his competition in the field of 20 3-year-olds.
“Brian Hernandez gave him the ride,” a joyous but sleep-deprived McPeek said. “Look, he doesn’t win the race without the job Brian did.”
The Derby victory came a day after the pair teamed up win the $1.5-million Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) for 3-year-old fillies with Thorpedo Anna Friday afternoon at Churchill Downs before a crowd of 107,236.
“I was fortunate to ride for Kenny,” said Hernandez about the Derby. “He and the owners entrusted in me to have the daring trip that we had. And we were fortunate to have a horse that trusted us, and he went through a couple of tight spots, and never thought twice about doing it. It was like, ‘No problem,’ and did it. It’s a big team effort, more than anything.”
The victory in 2:03.34 (100 Beyer Speed Figure according to Daily Racing Form) for the 1 1/4 miles was worth $3.1 million. The most recent time the Derby was decided by a nose was in 1996 when Grindstone edged Cavonnier.
To have three horses finish a nose apart in a photo finish, you have to go back to 1947, when Jet Pilot finished a head in front of Phalanx, who was another head in front of Faultless.
McPeek put a call on speaker from Pimlico Race Course officials of the invitation to run Mystik Dan in the Preakness (G1) in just 13 days.
While accepting the invite, McPeek said, “We’re not committing. When I ran him back in two weeks (at Churchill Downs last November), it completely backfired. And we skipped the Rebel (G2) (at Oaklawn Park) because it was too short as well. So we’ll watch him over the next week, and probably decide then. It will be a last-minute decision. We’ll let him tell us.”
In one of the most exciting Derby finishes, Hernandez found just enough room to squeeze Mystic Dan through along the rail.
“It got pretty tight,” Hernandez said. “Going around the second turn, I was watching those horses to the outside, and the thing about a race like that, everyone starts to make their moves. They can just stack and stack and stack, but we were just sitting there waiting. And the minute that Joel (Rosario, riding 41-1 Track Phantom) made a half a step to go meet those horses, we’re shooting through. When we did that, he (Rosario) tried to come back down, but by then, Mystik Dan was already through there.”
After slipping into the lead, Mystik Dan appeared headed to victory by a comfortable margin, but fast-closing Sierra Leone, under Tyler Gaffalione, and Forever Young, with Ryusei Sakai aboard, made it unbelievably tight at the wire.
“We kind of busted through there right before we straightened up and headed for home, Hernandez said. “And Mystik Dan switched leads, and spurted off, it was like, hurry up and get to the wire as fast as we can. It was just rolling. When we got to the eighth pole, I was thinking, ‘Wow, we’re about to win the Kentucky Derby.’ And then, right at the wire, it was like, maybe we got beat. He never stopped running. It was the first time they were going a mile-and-a-quarter, those horses were getting to him late, but he was there for us.”
Both Hernandez and McPeek won the Oaks and Derby for the first time. McPeek became the first trainer since Ben Jones in 1952 to win both the Oaks and Derby the same year.
“I wish I could have met him,” McPeek said of the legendary trainer who took the 1952 Derby with Hill Gail and the Oaks with Real Delight, both for Calumet Farm
“For three weeks, I’ve felt that we had a shot at winning both races,” McPeek said. “Both horses have been doing fantastic. There was never any little issue, anywhere or anytime, with either horse. It was always all systems go.”
Two members of the partnership that owns Mystik Dan were at the McPeek barn on Sunday, checking out the horse, talking to the news media, and accepting the presentation of WWE championship title belts that the fight organization is presenting to winners at various sporting events this year.
When asked how many trips to the Kentucky Derby they’ve made, both Lance Gasaway and Sherilyn Gasaway, wife of Lance’s cousin Brent, made a startling admission.
“Just one,” Lance and Sherilyn said in unison, as she held up her index finger to signify the number 1.
Mystik Dan is a bay colt by the sire Goldencents, out of Ma’am, a Colonel John mare the partners had raced. The breeding to the Spendthrift Farm sire was a match made in heaven.
“Kenny’s the one who suggested it,” Sharilyn Gasaway said.
Whether he races in the Preakness on May 18 or not, the Derby winner will ship directly the Saratoga in upstate New York, prepping and prepare for the June 8 Belmont (G1). McPeek and his wife have a house there, and he said they’d accompany Mystik Dan while getting the house ready for the Belmont meeting at the track, and the regular Saratoga meet.
McPeek said Thorpedo Anna could be headed to the Acorn Stakes (G1) on June 7 at Saratoga, and noted that he would have reservations against running her in the Belmont against Mystik Dan.
“I couldn’t have Brian riding both horses,” he said.
Following is rundown on how some of the other Derby runners fared.
SIERRA LEONE (2nd)/DOMESTIC PRODUCT (13th) – Trainer Chad Brown is always purposeful with his thoughts and words, mindful of his phrasing and the fact that perspective can shift on a dime in Thoroughbred racing. The morning after watching Grade 1 winner Sierra Leone come up a nose short of Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan during a thrilling three-horse finish on the wire, the four-time Eclipse Award winning conditioner was introspective as he sorted out the gamut of emotions running through him after his classic near-miss.
Brown checked on Sierra Leone first hand Sunday morning, reporting that the son of Gun Runner was tired but all good following his achingly close runner-up finish in the first leg of the Triple Crown. After showing off the colt to co-owner Derrick Smith, who was on hand to also admire his gritty charge, Brown discussed what might be next for the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) victor after running a winning race that didn’t yield the result to match.
“He’s good, but he’s not going to the Preakness,” Brown said of Sierra Leone. “I’m going to take him to Saratoga tomorrow and he’s going to train there for the Belmont (Stakes). He’s a little tired. He’s a real laid back horse but when we brought him he out, was a little more tired than he normally is after his races. I think giving him the five weeks to the Belmont is definitely the right thing to do.”
Sierra Leone indeed expended tremendous energy in the Kentucky Derby as he rallied from 18th early on, made a wide, sweeping move off the far turn, traded bumps with third-place finisher Forever Young in the lane and still only came up inches short. Brown said Sierra Leone does have a tendency to lean in and that jockey Tyler Gaffalione was trying to keep the colt straight in tight quarters with Forever Young without accidentally striking that rival with his stick.
“There was so much bumping going on there,” Brown said. “When horses are fatigued, they have a tendency to lean in a bit like he did with his last two wins and it’s going to be more exaggerated when they’re more tired. He had so much to do and by the time he got to the eighth pole, he was leaning in a bit.
“What Tyler was attempting to do is make room for his left stick, which the horse really respects, and keep him straight. And he was looking for sort of a pathway to use his left stick. But with the bumping, the tight duel between those two horses, it disarmed him with the stick. All he had was a rein to pull on and it really hurt his momentum. He couldn’t use it because he had no room to use his left stick without hitting his horse. He didn’t want to do that either. ”
Given the amount of ground Sierra Leone had to make up and the traffic he had to work his way through, Brown believes his protege ran the kind of race that further validates his belief that he brought the best horse into the 10-furlong classic.
“I’m very proud of the horse. I’m disappointed with the result, but I’m so proud of the horse, Brown said. “In my mind, he ran the best race. That’s no disrespect to the winner. It’s just, it’s a hard race to win, everything has to go right. With the winner, the horse showed up and was prepared right and he ran terrific. You have to have a trip where everything goes right.
Brown added that his other Kentucky Derby starter, Domestic Product, emerged from his 13th-place run having lost a shoe and grabbed a quarter.
FOREVER YOUNG (JPN) (3rd) – Susumu Fujita’s Forever Young was scheduled to return to Japan on Tuesday starting with a van trip to Chicago and then a flight to Narita.
Fujita left Louisville after the race Saturday night but told Hiroshi Ando, racing manager for trainer Yoshito Yahagi, that he “enjoyed the massive atmosphere and proud of his horse’s performance.”
Ando said that Yahagi was disappointed that Forever Young lost, but “how he ran his race made us so proud.”
Yahagi, who left Louisville early Sunday morning, noted that Forever Young’s third-place finish was the best result for a UAE Derby (G2) winner in the Kentucky Derby and even after traveling first to Saudi Arabia where he won the Saudi Derby (G3) and then to Dubai and on to Kentucky, “It shows that you can do it.”
While winner Mystik Dan was getting the golden run along the rail, Forever Young and Sierra Leone were exchanging bumps. Jockey Ryusei Sakai did not claim foul.
“Claims of foul do not happen much in Japan,” Ando said. “It is the stewards’ call, not us.”
CATCHING FREEDOM (4th)/JUST A TOUCH (20th) – It was a much quieter scene at Barn 22 Sunday morning than the rest of Kentucky Derby Week with both Catching Freedom and Just a Touch enjoying an easy day in the shedrow.
Both horses came out of the Derby fine and next plans are still to be determined, according to trainer Brad Cox.
Kazushi Kimura, T O Password, fifth: “He didn’t break well. This was his third time running and he was in a new country. He probably wasn’t 100 percent mature. Today he finished up strong. I hope the horse can stay for the Preakness.”
Ben Curtis, Honor Marie, eighth: “My race was over coming out of the gate. I got speared from both sides, I lost an iron and had to put it back in. He was nearly down on his head but I gave him time to pick himself up. He didn’t get the smoothest first quarter of a mile and I just let him float around a bit after that. Then I took to the inside because I didn’t want to give away any more ground. He paid for the early exertion but he ran a credible race.”
John Velazquez, Fierceness, 15th: “His first jump was not very good. His second and third jump he was OK. He got pretty aggressive since I had to give him a nudge out of there. The horses on the outside put the pressure on and then he got into the bridle. I tried to keep him as settled as much without letting doing too much but he was already engaged. When I let him go, he just didn’t have it.”
Churchill Downs Inc. announced that a crowd of 156,710 fans gathered at Churchill Downs racetrack in Louisville, Ky., to celebrate and witness Mystik Dan claim the Garland of Roses at the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve at 18-1 odds under mostly cloudy skies. Wagering from all sources was the highest all-time on the Kentucky Derby race, the Kentucky Derby Day program, and Kentucky Derby Week races.
Wagering from all sources on the Kentucky Derby Day program set a new record of $320.5 million, beating last year’s record of $288.7 million by 11.1 percent. All-sources wagering on the Kentucky Derby race was a new record of $210.7 million, beating the previous record of $188.7 million set in 2023. All-sources handle for Derby Week rose to a new record of $446.6 million, beating last year’s record of $412.0 million.
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