Mystik Dan ready for trek to Santa Anita and Malibu Stakes
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Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan is scheduled to arrive at Santa Anita mid-week for the Grade 1 Malibu Stakes on Dec. 26 after a two-day van ride from Fair Grounds in Louisiana.
Mystik Dan, who breezed five furlongs in 59.80 seconds at Fair Grounds on Saturday, is expected to begin the journey on Tuesday and is tentatively scheduled to be housed overnight at Zia Park in Hobbs, N.M., trainer Kenny McPeek said.
Mystik Dan will have a lengthy journey. The trip from New Orleans to Hobbs is approximately 900 miles, followed by a trip of approximately 1,000 miles to Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif.
“It’s a long way,” McPeek said.
Mystik Dan, who has not raced since an eighth-place finish in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga in June, worked in company on Saturday, McPeek said.
“It was another professional breeze,” McPeek said. “He’s a consistent horse. He needed to sit off somebody.”
Mystik Dan has worked consistently at Keeneland and at Fair Grounds since late October. Mystik Dan is scheduled to have a final workout at Santa Anita before the $300,000 Malibu Stakes for 3-year-olds.
The Malibu will be Mystik Dan’s first start in a sprint since a win in a maiden race at 5 1/2 furlongs at Churchill Downs in November 2023 in his second career start.
“It will be a little tricky, the cutback for him,” McPeek said of the distance. “We need to retool him and see him with a little turn of foot.”
McPeek recalled that Unbridled, the winner of the 1990 Kentucky Derby, began his 4-year-old season with a win in the Deputy Minister Handicap at seven furlongs at Gulfstream Park in March 1991. The champion 3-year-old colt of 1990, Unbridled won the Breeders’ Cup Classic at 1 1/4 miles at Belmont Park in his preceding start in October 1990.
In 1986, Ferdinand, also a Kentucky Derby winner, won the Malibu Stakes in his first start since a third-place finish in the Belmont Stakes at 1 1/2 miles at Belmont Park the preceding June.
Mystik Dan has a chance to join that group.
“That’s good company,” McPeek said.
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.
The Malibu is one of six graded stakes at Santa Anita on Dec. 26, opening day of the track’s winter-spring meeting.
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