Owner: Mystik Dan will be back on work tab next weekend

Mystik Dan, the 2024 Kentucky Derby winner, is scheduled to arrive early this coming week at Oaklawn to continue preparations for his comeback start, co-owner Lance Gasaway said Saturday morning.

Mystik Dan has not started since finishing ninth in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup Invitational on Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park. Gasaway said Mystik Dan received a 30-day break following the Pegasus and is scheduled to return to the work tab Saturday at Oaklawn.

Flashback: Mystik Dan wins Kentucky Derby 2024.

A three-time starter last season at Oaklawn, Mystik Dan is with trainer Kenny McPeek’s Fair Grounds division and has been galloping daily. Whether he could resurface before Oaklawn’s meet ends May 3 is up in the air.

“I just don’t know if he’ll be ready,” Gasaway said at Oaklawn. “I would love to run him here. This is going to be his first breeze back, so that’s why it’s going to be pushing to make the end of the meet.”

Mystik Dan was a runaway winner of the Southwest Stakes (G3) last season at Oaklawn for his Arkansas owners. The Goldencents colt also finished fifth in Oaklawn’s Smarty Jones Stakes and third in the Arkansas Derby (G1).

In addition to Gasaway, Mystik Dan races for Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway’s 4 G Racing as well as Banks and Scott Hamby’s Valley View Farm.