Ky. Derby winner Mystik Dan returns to Churchill in Blame

Last year’s Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan is set to make his return to the races at Churchill Downs on Saturday when he takes on nine rivals entered in the sixth running of the Grade 3, $275,000 Blame Stakes, the featured event on Stephen Foster preview day.

Run at 1 1/8 miles, the Blame Stakes serves as the local prep for the $1 million Stephen Foster (G1) on June 28. The first post is Saturday at 12:45 p.m. EDT with the Blame set as race 10 at 5:27 p.m.

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Mystik Dan thrilled fans in Kentucky Derby 2024 when he skimmed the rail to narrowly defeat Sierra Leone and Forever Young. The son of Goldencents has not returned to the winner’s circle in five races since but recently recorded a game, runner-up finish to Saudi Crown in the Lake Ouachita Stakes at Oaklawn on May 3.

Owned by 4 G Racing, Valley View Farm, Lance Gasaway and Daniel Hamby, Mystik Dan will be reunited with jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. and break from post 4 in the 10-horse Blame.

Most Wanted, owned by Gary and Mary West, is another talented entrant in the Blame. Recently the runner-up to Fierceness in the Alysheba (G2), Most Wanted won the Oklahoma Derby (G3) and finished second in the Clark (G2) as a 3-year-old. The Brad Cox trainee will break from post 7 under jockey Florent Géroux.

Calumet Farm’s Tennessee Lamb; Hillwood Stable’s Post Time; Lawrence Roman and David Jacobson’s Banishing; Centennial Farms’ Antiquarian; and Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, Derrick Smith, Westerberg and Brook Smith’s Hall of Fame are the other graded stakes-winning contenders in the Blame.