LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) – The Kentucky Derby once again defied horse sense. Fierceness, the 2-year-old champion and favorite, got the position he wanted early just behind and outside of the leaders. Sierra Leone, a fierce closer and second-choice in the betting, got a lane late and came charging in the long Churchill Downs stretch, as did the third-choice, Forever Young out of Japan.
But Fierceness faded, and the furious late charges of Sierra Leone and Forever Young came up just a nose short as Mystik Dan, an 18-1 longshot, used a ground-saving trip under jockey Brian Hernandez to give Kentucky trainer Kenny McPeek his first Kentucky Derby win in front of a crowd of 156,710.
What was billed as a potential two-horse race became the first three-horse photo finish since 1952. Overall, it was the closest Kentucky Derby finish since Grindstone edged Cavonnier by a nose in 1996.
Mystik Dan (inside) wins a photo finish over Sierra Leone (outside) to capture the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. (Eric Crawford/WDRB)
The win also brought a distinction to the winning trainer and jockey. A day after winning the Kentucky Oaks with Thorpedo Anna, McPeek became the first to sweep the races since Ben Jones did it 1952. Hernandez became the first jockey to sweep them since Calvin Borel in 2009.
“For three weeks I felt like we were going to win both races,” McPeek said. “I can’t tell you why. Both horses have been easy to deal with, the team has done such a great job every day. There’s been no drama. I believe in mojo, in positive energy, and we’ve had a lot of it.”
Mystik Dan broke from the No. 3 post and stayed close to the rail, settling into eighth place a quarter of a mile in, but staying within striking distance of the lead. When Track Phantom drifted off the rail, Hernandez slipped through the hole in the stretch run and quickly put daylight between himself and the field.
“It still hasn’t sunk in, it’s so unbelievable,” Hernandez said after the race. “We came into the weekend thinking that we had a really big chance at winning both Friday and Saturday. For the horses to pull it off for us, we have to thank the guys back in the barn. It’s definitely a surreal moment. The last 20 years I’ve ridden in Kentucky, and as a young kid out of Louisiana, I had the chance of sitting in the same corner as Calvin Borel. Watching him ride all those Derbys all those years, and today with Mystik Dan, being in the No. 3 hole, I watched a couple of his rides, with Super Saver and Mine That Bird, and I decided that we were going to roll the dice. That’s the nice thing about Kenny, he lets me make those decisions. We had the right kind of horse to give him that kind of trip.”
On the outside as Hernandez was moving Mystik Dan forward in the stretch, Sierra Leone and Forever Young were making their moves. Sierra Leone, trained by Chad Brown and ridden by Tyler Gaffalione, started in the No. 2 post but had to angle outside, got bumped, and still rallied to nearly win the race. Forever Young lunged at the start, settled in and was nearly good enough.
“I felt like I had plenty of horse,” Gaffalione said. “He wanted to lean in today and made it a little difficult. I had a hard time keeping him straight and it definitely cost us. He give you everything. Very responsive but he loses concentration.”
Watching with the rest of the crowd after the race, Brown thought for a moment he might’ve won the Kentucky Derby.
“Or I thought maybe it could be a dead heat because I got a great (head) bob,” he said. “I just wasn’t in front. . . . It’s disappointing the result but I’m so proud of the horse. He ran his race. When you have a deep closer like that, you have to go through some traffic ande and go wide.”
Asked about his beaten favorite’s ride, trainer Todd Pletcher said of Fierceness, who finished 15th, “(Jockey) Johnny (Velasquez) said he hopped a little at the start. Then he got wound up in all the company around him trying to make the lead. He couldn’t shake loose like he did in (the Florida Derby). Just one of those races.”
Mystik Dan paid $39.22, $16.32 and $10. Sierra Leone returned $6.54 and $4.64 and Forever Young $5.58.
Mystik Dan finished the 1 ¼-mile in 2:03.34.
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