By Duane Fonseca -
Kenneth McPeek became the first trainer since Ben Jones in 1952 to achieve the Kentucky Oaks and Derby double after Mystik Dan defied the odds to hold on to victory in the latter following a tense photo finish, a day after Thorpedo Anna thumped her Oaks rivals by over four lengths.
Brian Hernandez Jr. rode both horses becoming the eighth jockey to achieve the feat and the first since Calvin Borel’s success in the 2009 renewals.
The roses were placed on the Goldencents colt, a 18-1 starter, after judges thought it best to use technology to determine which of Mystik Dan and Sierra Leone had indeed poked in ahead of the other.
And so after a brief deliberation, a precise verdict rightly swung the way of the McPeek trainee, whose custody rests jointly with Lance and Sharilyn Gasaway, 4G Racing LLC, Valley View Farm LLC and Daniel Hamby III.
The 150th running of the Derby deserved a special performance and under the shadows of Churchill Downs’ Twin Spires, it was not just Mystik Dan and Hernandez, who would step up as the protagonists. Chad C Brown’s Sierra Leone (Tyler Gaffalione) and UAE Derby winner Forever Young, trained by Yoshito Yahagi and ridden by Ryusei Sakai, would make sure they played a pivotal role too as they stormed in to contest the finish from far behind.
After jumping from Gate 3, Hernandez held the rail and stayed there, hitting the front when straightening for home as the leaders faded. But if Mystik Dan and Hernandez thought the race was over, they were wrong as Sierra Leone and Forever Young emerged going eye-to-eye with each other, their endless reserves of energy ensuring a seemingly three-way tie at the finish. But it wasn’t to be, with the photo clearly revealing Grade 3 Southwest Stakes champion and G1 Arkansas Derby third Mystik Dan to be the winner by a nose. Sierra Leone took second, with Forever Young a further nose back in third.
It was McPeek’s first Derby win in 10 tries, victory helping the 61-year-old complete a career Triple Crown after victories in the 2002 Belmont Stakes with Sarava and the 2020 Preakness with Swiss Skydiver.
McPeek, based close to Lexington, said: “We didn’t do it with Calumet Farms horses. We’ve done it with what I call working-class horses. This isn’t a huge, zillion-dollar operation.”
Hernandez added: “Three jumps before the wire, I didn’t see them at all. And then right at the wire, they surged, and I was like, ‘Oh, God, did we just win the Kentucky Derby?’ ”
Yes, they did!
