Mystik Dan works on turf for surface switch
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Mystik Dan, the 2024 Kentucky Derby winner, took his first steps to what is expected to be a surface switch to turf by working five furlongs in 1:02.70 Friday morning over the Oklahoma turf course.
With Luis Rivera Jr. up, Mystik Dan went off easy in 13.60 seconds, then got his last quarter in 23.90 over a drying out turf surface.
“I thought it was super,” trainer Kenny McPeek said. “I’ve always wanted to give him a test on the turf. He’s a Northern Dancer-type, he’s that type of physical, very balanced horse. It looked to me like he zipped across it and enjoyed it.”
McPeek said he didn’t feel comfortable running Mystik Dan on the dirt at Saratoga in races like the Whitney or Jockey Club Gold Cup because jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. felt the horse struggled with Saratoga’s main track when he finished eighth in the 2024 Belmont Stakes.
“I didn’t want to go in the Whitney with a horse who I was concerned didn’t like this main track,” McPeek said. “I think we know where he fits to some extent – not far off the Classic horses. But this is kind of another dynamic.”
McPeek said if the decision is made to run in turf races, the Grade 3, $2.5 million Mint Millions going a mile at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 6 and the Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland on Oct. 4 could be options.
“Could that take him to the Breeders’ Cup Mile on turf? It could,” McPeek said. “It’s just an idea and fortunately the partners are open to it. And I think it gives him, as a stallion prospect, another dynamic.”
Mystik Dan is expected to stand at Airdrie Stud when he is retired from racing.
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