LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — The Kentucky Derby winner is back — and trying to make a little more history beneath the Twin Spires.
Mystik Dan, the victor of the 150th Kentucky Derby, returns to Churchill Downs on Saturday to run in the $275,000 Blame Stakes (GIII), hoping to become the first Derby winner to win another race at the track since Silver Charm in 1998.
“He couldn’t be doing any better going into the race,” trainer Kenny McPeek said. “I really like his chances.”
It won’t be easy. The 1 1/8-mile Blame has drawn a competitive field of 10 older horses, including graded stakes winner and 3-1 morning line favorite Post Time and the well-regarded Banishing. Mystik Dan is the 4-1 third choice on the morning line, with Brian Hernandez Jr. back aboard. But second-choice Most Wanted is cross entered in a mile allowance race Sunday and likely to go in that one, according to trainer Brad Cox.
The last Derby winner to win any race following their Churchill triumph was Mandaloun, the 2021 winner by disqualification.
Mystik Dan, owned by Lance Gasaway, 4 G Racing, Daniel Hamby III and Valley View Farm, was last seen finishing a close second to Saudi Crown in the Lake Ouachita Stakes at Oaklawn earlier this month. That was a return to form for McPeek's colt, who is 0-for-5 since winning the Derby, though he was second win the Preakness.
In recent years, only a handful of Kentucky Derby winners have returned to race at Churchill Downs. Rich Strike, the 2022 winner, finished second in both the Lukas Classic (GII) and Clark (GII) later that year. Mandaloun ran fourth in the 2022 Stephen Foster (GI). Always Dreaming, the 2017 winner, finished fifth in the 2018 Stephen Foster. Mine That Bird, who won in 2009, came back in 2010 and finished eighth in the Wise Dan (GII), then known as the Firecracker Handicap.
Silver Charm's victorious return in 1998 was in the Clark Handicap.
Saturday’s Blame is one of six stakes races on “Stephen Foster Preview Day,” with the feature setting the stage for the $1 million Stephen Foster (GI) on June 28.
Post time for the Blame is 5:27 p.m. First post at Churchill is 12:45 p.m.
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