A trainer since 1985, Kenny McPeek has won more than 2,000 races, including the 2002 Belmont Stakes (G1) with the longshot Sarava and the 2020 Preakness Stakes (G1) with the filly Swiss Skydiver. Yet before this year, two of the country's most prestigious races, the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and Kentucky Derby (G1), eluded him.
Not any longer.
In one of the great training feats in Oaks and Derby history, McPeek—teaming with his primary rider Brian Hernandez Jr.—won the May 3 Kentucky Oaks for 3-year-old fillies with Thorpedo Anna and May 4, the $5 million Kentucky Derby with Mystik Dan when the colt prevailed in a three-horse photo finish with Sierra Leone and Forever Young.
In so doing, McPeek, a Kentucky resident, became just the third trainer in the two races' 150-year history to win both the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby in the same year and the first since Ben "Plain Ben" Jones managed the feat for a second time in 1952.
"It still hasn't sunk in. You know, it's unbelievable," McPeek, 61, said of the accomplishment. "We came into the weekend thinking we had good chances, really big chances, both Friday and Saturday, and then to just have the horses pull it off for us."
.@KennyMcPeek after winning the #kyderby with Mystik Dan pic.twitter.com/HF7pKdgICe
— Byron King (@BH_BKing) May 4, 2024
Campaigned by his breeders 4 G Racing, Lance Gasaway, and Daniel Hamby III, as well as Valley View Farm, Mystik Dan, a son of Goldencents —Ma'am, by Colonel John, completed the 1 1/4-mile classic in 2:03.34 on a fast track.
Hernandez also joins select company, becoming just the eighth jockey to capture both races, the last of which was Hall of Famer Calvin Borel in 2009.
The 38-year-old rider—who as a younger man, idolized Borel, a fellow Louisiana native—recalled watching Borel's rail-skimming tactics in notching his three Kentucky Derby victories. He did not just watch; he learned.
In Borel-like fashion in Saturday's Kentucky Derby, he angled Mystik Dan to the rail soon after the start, placing his mount a few lengths off the early pace, as Track Phantom shot to the lead with longshot Just Steel and favored Fierceness in hot pursuit.
There, Mystik Dan remained, tracking the leaders, as Track Phantom established moderate fractions of :22.97, :46.63 and 1:11.31. Then while in fourth, opportunity arose when Track Phantom drifted narrowly off the fence. That provided the opening Mystik Dan needed, and he shot through a narrow gap on the inside, desperately close to the rail.
"We might have took out a little bit of the inside fence, but that's OK," Hernandez quipped. "Once he cut the corner, he got a little separation on the closers that were forced to kind of go around horses and he was able to hold them off."
He did, but just barely. After striking the front with a mile in 1:37.46 and opening up a two-length midstretch lead, he lasted for a nose victory over a wide-rallying Sierra Leone. Japanese invader Forever Young was another nose back. It took placing judges a couple of minutes to separate the first three finishers before the official result was posted.
The Derby, often called as "the greatest two minutes in sports," became the longest two minutes in sports in terms of the photo wait for Hernandez, who did have the luxury of watching slow-motion replays that appeared to show Mystik Dan narrowly in front despite a favorable head bob from Sierra Leone.
Stretch run of the #kyderby #mystikdan pic.twitter.com/QLs7VlLpgB
— Byron King (@BH_BKing) May 4, 2024
The crowd of 156,710 at Churchill Downs exclaimed when the results were announced.
McPeek felt his horse had won, giving him a Derby win in his 10th attempt, nearly 30 years after Tejano Run became his first starter with a runner-up finish in the 1995 Derby.
Mystik Dan, a rail-skimming, eight-length winner of Southwest Stakes (G3) in the mud earlier this year and most recently a wide third in the Arkansas Derby (G1), paid $39.22 for a $2 win wager.
Along with his earlier achievements, McPeek now seems a near certainty to soon take his place among the sport's legends in the Hall of Fame, perhaps by next year. Asked how he feels on the brink of such an honor, McPeek replied, "Goosebumps."
Mystik Dan's time was the slowest since 2019 when Maximum Security crossed the wire first in the Derby over a wet track in 2:03.93, only to be disqualified for interference, resulting in the elevation of Country House to first.
The stretch run between runner-up Sierra Leone and Japanese invader Forever Young was also rough, with the two making repeated contact down the stretch. They were also separated by a nose.
Besides impacting the second and third place, the contact they had and corrections from their jockeys may also have stalled their momentum in pursuing Mystik Dan. Stewards did not post an inquiry, nor was there a rider's claim of foul.
"There definitely was some bumping in the lane there," Brown said. "My horse does tend to lean in and lug in a little bit, so maybe it's him actually causing it or whatever.
"I wish there wasn't a horse there, but that's their right to be there."
"He wanted to lean in today and made it a little difficult," Sierra Leone's jockey, Tyler Gaffalione, added. "I had a hard time keeping him straight, and that definitely cost us. He gives you everything, very responsive, but he loses concentration."
For Brown, the loss left him disappointed in the outcome, though not in his late-running horse. The Gun Runner colt started as the second favorite in the Kentucky Derby after winning the Risen Star Stakes (G2) and Blue Grass Stakes (G1) earlier this year.
"You get beat a nose in the Kentucky Derby—it's a tough one," said the four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer, who is 0-2-1 with nine Derby starters.
Domestic Product, his other entrant Saturday, ran 13th.
Nearly winning the Derby for Japan was Forever Young, whose defeat by two noses was the first loss of his six-race career. Off poorly and in 16th place of 20 horses down the backstretch, he rallied wide, ahead of Sierra Leone until late, giving the Americans all they could handle.
Louisiana Derby (G2) winner Catching Freedom ran fourth, 1 3/4 lengths behind Forever Young.
Another Japanese horse, T O Password, rallied from 18th to grab fifth. Japanese runners are now 0-for-8 in the Kentucky Derby, though they turned heads with how they fared Saturday. Never before had a Japanese horse run better than sixth in the race.
Rounding out the 20-horse field after T O Password were Resilience, Stronghold, Honor Marie, Endlessly, Donorch, Track Phantom, West Saratoga, Domestic Product, Epic Ride, Fierceness, Society Man, Just Steel, Grand Mo the First, Catalytic, and Just a Touch.
Reigning 2-year-old male champion Fierceness was one of the biggest disappointments of the race. A record-setting 13 1/2-length winner of the Florida Derby (G1) in his last start, he continued his history of alternating banner performances with subpar efforts. Seemingly well positioned, pressing the pace three-wide after hopping at the start, he came up empty after John Velazquez said he became a bit aggressive after he asked him to recover from being a step slow at the break.
"When I let him go, he just didn't have it."
Saturday's milestone running of the Kentucky Derby, run for a record purse, featured most, but not all, of the best 3-year-old dirt horses in the world.
Absent from the race were horses trained by Bob Baffert amid Churchill Downs Inc.'s continued ban of the trainer imposed after his horse Medina Spirit tested positive for a prohibited race-day medication in 2021. Medina Spirit was disqualified from his first-place finish in the 2021 Derby, resulting in the promotion of the Brad Cox-trained Mandaloun to first.
Muth, who had beaten Mystik Dan last month in the Arkansas Derby (G1), was one such Baffert trainee ineligible for the race. Muth is expected to compete at Pimlico Race Course in the May 18 Preakness Stakes (G1), the 1 3/16-mile second leg of the Triple Crown.
The third and final leg of the Triple Crown is the June 8 Belmont Stakes (G1), which this year will be run at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga Race Course owing to ongoing construction at Belmont Park.
If Mystik Dan exits the Kentucky Derby in good condition, he would seem a viable candidate for further Triple Crown participation.
The mating to Goldencents was recommended by McPeek. A two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) in 2013-14, Goldencents stands for $10,000 at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky. A top-25 sire last year, Goldencents is on the rise in 2024 buoyed by the success of Mystik Dan.
"You just wonder if this is real. You just won the biggest horse race in America," co-owner and co-breeder Gasaway said.
