Mystik Dan, the horse who won the Kentucky Derby by a nose in the race’s closest finish in more than a half-century, is still scheduled to compete in the Preakness next weekend, keeping the possibility of another Triple Crown success alive.
Kentucky Derby Winner Mystik Dan Is Heading To The Preakness After All
Trainer Kenny McPeek announced the decision Saturday after consulting with owners and assessing the benefits and drawbacks of running his horse again on such a short, two-week turnaround. He was initially concerned about the timing since Mystik Dan performed poorly under similar conditions in November.
But he liked what he saw in training and decided to take a chance.
“All systems are go,” McPeek said Saturday. “The horse is doing fantastic.”
The possibility that Mystik Dan, who finished just ahead of Sierra Leone and Forever Young in the 1 1/4-mile race at Churchill Downs last weekend thanks to a perfect rail-skimming ride by jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., will not compete in the Preakness next Saturday has raised questions about the race’s status. The Derby winner has not run twice in the preceding four years, due to various situations.
Kentucky Derby Winner Mystik Dan Is Heading To The Preakness After All
McPeek, who won the pandemic-delayed 2020 Preakness with filly Swiss Skydiver, who defeated Derby champion Authentic, couldn’t pass up the opportunity to travel to Baltimore.
No one has won the Derby and the Preakness since the previous Triple Crown winner, Justify, in 2018 for Hall of Famer Bob Baffert. Mystik Dan’s decision would result in a first: a Triple Crown on the line at Saratoga Race Course, where the Belmont will be staged for the next two years while the race’s longtime home on Long Island is demolished and rebuilt as part of a mammoth $455 million rebuilding project.
But Mystik Dan might not be the Preakness favorite. That title is likely to go to Muth, one of two horses brought by Baffert, who was once again barred from entering horses in the Derby due to a Churchill Downs ban imposed when Medina Spirit failed a drug test after coming first in the event in 2021.
Kentucky Derby Winner Mystik Dan Is Heading To The Preakness After All
The only other Derby winner scheduled to compete in the Preakness is 17th-place finisher Just Steel, trained by 88-year-old Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas.
SOURCE – (AP)
