Mystik Dan won the one hundred and fiftieth running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday afternoon at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The winning time was 2:03.34.
He won in a photograph finish over Sierra Leone and Forever Young. The crowd at Churchill Downs roared because the three horses ran down the track, then fell silent as nobody could tell by their nose who was winning the race.
WOW. 😱
Mystik Dan WINS the one hundred and fiftieth Kentucky Derby in a PHOTO FINISH! pic.twitter.com/N2jfd2TsKe
– NBC Sports (@NBCSports) May 4, 2024
Mystik Dan, who began the race at odds of 18-1, was within the lead going into the ultimate corner and saw his lead narrow in the ultimate furlong but was capable of retain the win. Betting favorite Fierceness (3:1) ended up in fifteenth place after a powerful start.
For Lance Gasaway, considered one of Mystik Dan's owners whose father died exactly a yr ago, winning the one hundred and fiftieth Kentucky Derby on May 4 is especially meaningful.
“To me, this is for him,” Gasaway said. “Dad would have loved it. He loved the game.”
GO DEEPER
The people and moments that made Mystik Dan a Kentucky Derby winner
Mystik Dan is trained by Kenneth McPeek and ridden by Brian Hernandez. Both trainer and jockey also won the Kentucky Oaks on Friday with Thorpedo Anna. McPeek is the primary trainer to win each the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby on the identical weekend since Ben Jones completed the feat in 1952. As of Friday, neither McPeak nor Hernandez had ever won a Kentucky Oaks or Kentucky Derby.
“My horse just ran so relaxed, he never felt like we were going that fast,” Hernandez said. “I just smiled the whole time. It’s an incredible feeling when you have the horse under you and you know it’s going to go forward and forward and forward.”
A $2 winning bet on Mystik And paid $39.22. A $2 exacta bet on Mystik Dan and Sierra Leone returned $258.56.
The athlete
Full results with final betting odds set before the race
- Mystic Dan (18-1)
- Sierra Leone (9-2)
- Forever young (6-1)
- Catch Freedom (8-1)
- TO password (48-1)
- Resilience (32-1)
- Fortress (35-1)
- Honor Marie (15-1)
- Endless (48-1)
- Dornoch (22-1)
- Trail Phantom (40-1)
- Western Saratoga (22-1)
- Domestic Product (27-1)
- Epic ride (47-1)
- Wildness (3-1)
- Society man (46-1)
- Steel only (21-1)
- Grand Mo the First (47-1)
- Catalytic (34-1)
- Just one touch (11-1)
Required reading
image credit : theathletic.com