McPeek Eyes KY Downs After Mystik Dan Breezes on Turf

Lance Gasaway, 4 G Racing, Daniel Hamby III, and Valley View Farm's 2024 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mystik Dan  took to the grass for the first time Aug. 1 over Saratoga Race Course's Oklahoma turf training track. Clockers timing him through a solo five-eighths breeze in 1:02.17 with Luis Rivera Jr. up.

Not counting three workouts from horses who worked around orange cones placed well out in the course, conditions that create more ground to cover, Mystik Dan's breeze time was ranked fifth of seven customary works on the course at the five-furlong distance. Rivera shook the colt's reins through the lane and brushed Mystik Dan on the shoulder with his riding crop.

"Really pleased," trainer Ken McPeek said at his Saratoga barn. "I always wanted to try him on the turf, and he looked like he loved it. We're contemplating some options, and this is a horse that's done everything we've ever asked him to do. I think he'll relish it; it's just a matter of finding the right spot at the right time."

The 4-year-old son of Goldencents   was last-out fourth in the June 28 Stephen Foster Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs, the site of his Kentucky Derby coup last year over subsequent champion 3-year-old male Sierra Leone. Two starts ago, Mystik Dan notched a 1 1/4-length victory in the Blame Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs.

Mystik Dan is out of the Colonel John  mare Ma'am , whose four wins included one on turf in 2017 at Ellis Park. Ma'am is a half sister to Renaissance Art, who was group 3-placed going 1 1/2 miles on turf in Hong Kong, and Revamp , who was placed on synthetic going the same distance in England. His second dam, Lady Siphonica , is a half-sister to Rose of Summer , the dam of Laragh —a grade 1-winner on synthetic and dual listed stakes winner on turf—and multiple turf graded stakes-winner Summer Front .

Goldencents has also seen his progeny have success on turf, led by dual grade 1 winner Going to Vegas , along with multiple graded/group stakes-winners Phantom Currency  and Wildman Jack , and grade 3-winner That's Right.

McPeek said he is still evaluating options for Mystik Dan, with an eye on the lucrative Kentucky Downs meet. Mystik Dan is eligible for multiple stakes and allowance races during the Kentucky Downs' all-turf season.

"There's a race down there that I think will be ideal for him, so right now that's what we're kind of leaning towards," McPeek said.

Mystik Dan holds a career record of 4-3-1 in 14 starts with more than $4.4 million in purse earnings. He was bred in Kentucky by Gasaway, Hamby, and 4 G Racing.