Mystik Dan likely to launch comeback in Malibu Stakes

Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan is scheduled to have his first start since June in the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.

The $300,000 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs will be Mystik Dan’s first start since an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga on June 8, and the colt’s first sprint since a maiden race win at 5 1/2 furlongs at Churchill Downs in November 2023.

“We’re fully considering the Malibu,” trainer Kenny McPeek said on Wednesday.

“The tricky thing is getting a horse that has run a mile and a quarter or a mile and three-sixteenths, and hasn’t run in a while, and I have to hook him back to seven-eighths. It’s really hard.

“I think this horse is very capable of doing that. He’s doing super right now.”

McPeek said he is working through the logistics of vanning Mystik Dan the approximately 1,880 miles from New Orleans to Southern California with the intent of stopping for an overnight stay.

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McPeek said he would prefer to give Mystik Dan a gate work in early December. He envisions three more workouts for Mystik Dan in advance of the Malibu – this Sunday, Dec. 14, and Dec. 20. Last Saturday at Fair Grounds, Mystik Dan worked five furlongs 1:01.

A winner of 3 of 9 starts, Mystik Dan has earned $4,161,360 for the partnership of Four G Racing, Lance Gasaway, Daniel Hamby, and Valley View Farm.

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