LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The second jewel of thoroughbred horse racing’s Triple Crown could be missing 150th Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan and other co-stars, quashing hopes for a rematch after Saturday’s thrilling three-wide photo finish in the milestone race at Churchill Downs.
Mystik Dan trainer Kenny McPeek and the horse’s ownership wouldn’t commit to whether the 3-year-old colt would race in the 149th Preakness Stakes on May 18 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, which requires a quick two-week turnaround. For now, Mystik Dan’s team will take the horse to Saratoga, New York, before they decide whether to enter him in the 1 3/16-mile second leg of the Triple Crown.
“We’re not committed to the Preakness, not yet,” McPeek said Sunday morning outside his barn on the back side of Churchill Downs. “I ran him back once in two weeks, and it completely backfired on me. … So we’ll just watch him over the next week. It’ll be one of those where we’ll probably take it up to the last minute. We’ll let him tell us.”
(READ MORE: Mystik Dan wins Kentucky Derby by a nose in photo finish)
Saratoga Race Course, a picturesque track in the Upstate region, will host the Triple Crown’s final jewel, the Belmont Stakes, for the next three years while major renovations take place at Elmont’s Belmont Park on Long Island. In addition, the Belmont — the 156th running is set for June 8 — has been shortened from its usual 1 1/2 miles to 1 1/4 while at Saratoga. That matches the distance that Mystik Dan ran before winning by a nose over Sierra Leone and Forever Young in the Kentucky Derby’s closest three-way finish since 1947.
The five-week gap between the first and third races of the Triple Crown follows a more normal race schedule for many thoroughbreds, and some trainers might opt to head to Saratoga to acclimate their horses sooner.
Chad Brown said Sierra Leone, which finished a nose ahead of Forever Young, will skip the Preakness and leave on Monday to train at Saratoga and run the Belmont. Considering how much it took for Sierra Leone to navigate other horses and chase down Mystik Dan before falling a nose short at the wire, rest sounds necessary.
“He’s a real laidback horse, but when we brought him out, he was a little more tired than he normally is after his races,” Brown said. “I think giving him the five weeks to the Belmont is definitely the right thing to do.”
AP photo by Jeff Roberson / Mystik Dan trainer Kenneth McPeek, right, hand off the Kentucky Derby trophy to jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. as they celebrate in the winner’s circle at Louisville’s Churchill Downs on Saturday.Louisville-born trainer Brad Cox is watching Catching Freedom, which finished fourth Saturday, and Just A Touch (20th) before deciding their next steps. Forever Young and T O Password (fifth), both bred in Japan, are headed home Tuesday.
At first glance, that could leave the Preakness without some star power — at least from the Kentucky Derby — though it won’t lack for plotlines with a number of well-rested horses expected to compete at Pimlico.
Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert could have two entrants as he seeks to follow up National Treasure’s victory there last spring. He trains Santa Anita Derby runner-up Imagination and Arkansas Derby winner Muth, who missed the Kentucky Derby after failed legal attempts by owner Amr Zedan to get the trainer in despite Baffert’s suspension by Churchill Downs through the end of 2024.
As McPeek and the owners ponder a decision, the trainer and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. basked in a wash of congratulations for a weekend of success at Churchill Downs. They joined exclusive company by completing a sweep after winning Friday’s main event, the Kentucky Oaks for fillies, with Thorpedo Anna.
McPeek, 61, is just the third trainer to do that and the first since Ben Jones (who did it twice) in 1952, while Hernandez, 38, is the eighth rider to achieve the feat and first since fellow Louisiana native Calvin Borel, a Hall of Fame jockey, in 2009.
Meanwhile, Mystik Dan just stood calm and unfazed Sunday as a cluster of onlookers took photos and selfies as workers bathed him outside the barn. He was then draped with the winner’s blanket signifying his victory a day earlier in the “Run for the Roses” before being led back to his stall with a title belt resting on an outer wall.
Thorpedo Anna also made a brief appearance and soaked in the attention.
Hernandez has stepped into his own life-changing spotlight after winning the sport’s marquee race. He dined with his family after Saturday’s triumph but didn’t sleep much, a routine that figures to go on for the next few days amid a flood of interview requests.
At some point, he hopes to get his mind around all that has happened, but he is ready in at least one regard.
“When somebody asks what my profession is, I’m able to tell them I’m a professional jockey,” Hernandez said. “And then the first question they normally ask is, ‘Have you ever won the Kentucky Derby?'”
The answer they’re hoping to hear, of course is, “Yes, I have.”
Said Hernandez: “I can say that now.”