Mystik Dan wins historic 2024 Kentucky Derby in three-way photo finish at Churchill Downs
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Mystik Dan won a three-way photo finish over Sierra Leone and Forever Young in a historic 150th edition of the Grade 1, $5 million Kentucky Derby from a full field of 20 horses on Saturday night beneath the Twin Spires at Churchill Downs in Louisville.
Mystik Dan, saddled by Lexington-based trainer Kenny McPeek and ridden by jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., provided the first combination Oaks-Derby double since 1952 with their narrow win.
The McPeek-Hernandez duo teamed up to win the Kentucky Oaks with Thorpedo Anna on Friday evening at Churchill. The last jockey to do the Oaks-Derby double was Calvin Borel in 2009 with Rachel Alexandra and Mine That Bird. The last trainer to do the double was Ben Jones in 1952 with Real Delight and Hill Gail.
McPeek is only the fourth-ever trainer to do the Oaks-Derby double in the same year.
After Friday’s Kentucky Oaks was contested over a sloppy track and rain threatened throughout Saturday, the Derby was run over a fast main track at Churchill.
It didn’t matter. McPeek and Hernandez won in both conditions at Churchill Downs this weekend.
Catching Freedom finished in fourth. T O Password (JPN) finished in fifth. Both of the Japenese horses in this year’s race placed in the top five.
A $2 exacta in the Derby with Mystik Dan and Sierra Leone paid $258.56. A $1 trifecta with Mystik Dan, Sierra Leone and Forever Young (JPN) paid $1,113.84.
McPeek was previously 0 for 9 in the Derby, with his best finish being second with Tejano Run in 1995.
Hernandez had been 0 for 4 in the Derby, with his best finish being eighth with McCraken in 2017.
“Brian just did an amazing job,” McPeek said post-race on NBC, praising the jockey, Hernandez, multiple times.
Mystik Dan (who broke from post position 3) is owned by Lance Gasaway, 4 G Racing (Brent Gasaway and Daniel Hamby. This was the first Kentucky Derby for all of Mystik Dan’s owners.
The horse went off at 18-1 odds in the Derby.
Mystik Dan had accrued 46 Derby qualifying points, which included a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on March 30 at Oaklawn Park and a win in the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes in early February at Oaklawn Park.
Mystik Dan had 20-1 morning-line odds following last week’s post position draw, before he was bet down to the 18-1 odds he went off at.
The horse is now 3-1-1 in seven career starts. He entered the Derby with career earnings of $641,360, a total that will significantly increase after Saturday’s result.
The bay-colored horse was bred in Kentucky and was sired by Goldencents. Mystik Dan’s dam was Ma’am, by Colonel John.
A homebred, Mystik Dan earned his first career win at Churchill Downs last November.
Fierceness, the dominant Florida Derby winner and morning-line favorite and 3-1 post-time favorite, finished in 15th.
The 2024 Derby Day attendance was 156,710 spectators at Churchill Downs, an increase of more than 6,000 fans from the crowd of 150,335 people that gathered for last year’s race.
Irad Ortiz Jr. dominates Derby undercard races
As always, several high-quality stakes races took place on the Derby undercard Saturday at Churchill Downs.
The early undercard races were dominated by jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., who won each of the Grade 2, $600,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes, Grade 1, $1 million Derby City Distaff Stakes and Grade 2, $665,000 Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile Stakes.
Ortiz won each of those races for a different trainer: Ortiz was aboard Cogburn for Steve Asmussen in a 2 1/4-length victory in the Turf Sprint, Vahva for Cherie DeVaux in a 2-length victory in the Derby City Distaff and Chili Flag (FR) for Chad Brown in a win that came by a neck in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile.
The 88-year-old trainer D. Wayne Lukas teamed up with jockey Jaime Torres to win the Grade 2, $600,000 Pat Day Mile Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths with Seize the Grey, and trainer H. Graham Motion paired with jockey Umberto Rispoli to win the Grade 2, $600,000 American Turf Stakes with 47-1 long shot Trikari.
Asmussen also won the Grade 1, $1 million Churchill Downs by 2 1/2 lengths with Gun Pilot, who was ridden by Cristian Torres.
©2024 Lexington Herald-Leader. Visit at kentucky.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.