Confirmed: Derby winner Mystik Dan will race in Preakness 2024
Louisville, Ky.
Trainer Kenny McPeek confirmed it Saturday morning. Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan will line up at Pimlico next weekend in Preakness 2024.
“All systems go,” he told the Maryland Jockey Club. “He’ll ship out in the morning (on Sunday).”
McPeek made sure a scope and blood work taken Saturday morning came back clean after a routine training session at Churchill Downs.
“We’re going to scope him this morning to make sure there’s nothing clogging him up, and that he’s all good with his airway,” McPeek said beforehand. “We’re probably just going to draw blood. He doesn’t need it. But the horse is doing fantastic.”
After a conversation with owners Lance and Sharilyn Gasaway, McPeek finalized his decision to continue the quest for a Triple Crown.
McPeek had just watched retired jockey Robby Albarado ride Mystik Dan through a 1 1/2-mile gallop. That was just after 7:30 a.m. EDT, when the fast main track was announced to be “open for workers and the Kentucky Derby winner only.”
Other than having a few members of the media in tow for every step he took between his barns and a trainers stand near the big video board on the backstretch, it was business as usual for McPeek. And for Mystik Dan.
“We’re not changing any routine we do with any other horse anytime,” McPeek said. “This is what he would have done whether it was a maiden race or a stakes race. ... He won’t breeze going into the Preakness if everything goes well. You don’t need to breeze. We’ll just bring him back off gallops. But he’s doing fine.”
Wheeling the 3-year-old Goldencents colt back only two weeks after a nose victory in the Kentucky Derby remains the biggest question for McPeek. It was only 13 days after a maiden-breaking win in November when Mystik Dan finished fifth in a Churchill Downs allowance race. This time, instead of stretching from 5 1/2 furlongs to a mile, Mystik Dan will cut back, even if it is only 110 yards from the 1 1/4 miles of the Derby to the 1 3/16 of the Preakness.
“That distance might actually be better for him,” McPeek said. “At that distance (in the Derby) he was a couple lengths in front, but it remains to be seen.”
Before he made his decision final, McPeek said he already had been working on the finer points of the 600-mile trip from Louisville to Baltimore.
“I’ve already kind of arranged the logistics of it all,” he said. “We just need to hammer it out with a couple of small details. ... I have my own trucks, my own drivers, my own people. We don’t need to book them.”
Although no domestic futures are available, one international bookmaker made Mystik Dan a 3-1 second choice to win the Preakness. Grade 1 Arkansas Derby winner Muth, trained by Bob Baffert, was showing Saturday morning as a 4-5 favorite.
Entries for the Preakness will be taken Monday with the post-position draw scheduled for 5:30 p.m. EDT in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor district.