HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – There are two Kentucky Derby winners running Saturday.
One will not be crowned until the early evening hours at Churchill Downs, while the other will be in action at Oaklawn Park.
It was on the first Saturday in May a year ago that the Arkansas-owned Mystik Dan won the Kentucky Derby in a three-way battle to the wire. He’s back in front of a home crowd Saturday to start in the $200,000 Lake Ouachita Stakes.
The 1 1/16-mile race for 4-year-olds and up is one of two stakes on the closing-day card at Oaklawn. The 12-race program also includes the $200,000 Arkansas Breeders’ Championship. First post is noon Central. The infield is scheduled to be open on an afternoon forecast to be sunny with temperatures in the 70s. Part of festivities will include an appearance by the Budweiser Clydesdales.
Mystik Dan also will draw a crowd. His trophy from the Kentucky Derby is on display in the hotel at Oaklawn, where last season he won the Southwest Stakes. He went on to capture the Kentucky Derby over Sierra Leone, eventual winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and Forever Young. The stretch drive was a thriller that co-owner Lance Gasaway remembers like it was yesterday.
“I kept leaning sideways,” he said. “We’re all leaning sideways. ‘Where’s the line?’ It was very exciting. When he came down the stretch, when he got through on the rail, that turn of foot, he opened up two or three lengths quick there, and I thought he might keep going. But naturally, he got a little tired there at the end, so we were waiting on the finish line.”
Mystik Dan will be looking to recapture his winning form when he makes his first start since January in the Lake Ouachita. He’s part of a field of nine that includes fellow Grade 1 winner Saudi Crown and the up-and-coming Awesome Aaron. Mystik Dan has been prepping for the race at Oaklawn, where his trainer, Kenny McPeek, has a division. Mystik Dan last raced Jan. 25 and was an uncharacteristic ninth in the Grade 1 Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park.
“We want to get him back to his winning ways,” McPeek said. “I think that’s the biggest thing.”
Gasaway is hopeful for the same and is cautiously optimistic about Saturday.
“We pulled a pretty tough field, but hey, he should be that level of a horse,” he said. “Hopefully, we get a good run out of him and he has that turn of foot like we’ve seen before. We hope to see that and get him back on track.”
Mystik Dan, who was second in last year’s Preakness, leads Saturday’s field in earnings with $4.2 million. He is a 4-year-old homebred son of Goldencents who also races for the 4 G Racing operation of Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway, Daniel Hamby III, and Valley View Farm.
“He’s a lovely horse to be around, a beautiful colt – as you’d expect as a Kentucky Derby winner,” McPeek said. “He’s a special horse.”
Francisco Arrieta has the mount from post 9.
Saudi Crown will start from the rail after running second to Banishing in the Grade 3 Oaklawn Mile in his last start March 29. Abel Cedillo has the mount on the $3.3 million earner for FMQ Stables and trainer Brad Cox.
Awesome Aaron is a new face on the local stakes scene after a breakout win in a April 12 allowance route at Oaklawn. For his effort, he earned a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 104. It’s the best last-race number in the Lake Ouachita.
“We just feel like he’s doing really well right now and he deserves a shot in there,” trainer Norm Casse said.
The front-running son of Practical Joke will be ridden by Rafael Bejarano.
“He had always worked like he was a really good horse,” Casse said. “We were tinkering around with things, could never figure out how to get him over the proverbial hump. We took the blinkers off, and that seemed to really make a big, big difference.
“He’s always going to have gas, but the blinkers off helped settle him down just enough to be able to finish his route races. So hopefully, we found a new dimension with him and we can have fun with him all spring and summer.”
The field also includes Dimatic, who is coming off a fourth-place finish in the Oaklawn Mile, and multiple graded stakes winner Emmanuel.
◗ Lochmoor will be looking to defend his title in the Arkansas Breeders’ Championship, which is for statebred 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles. He’s part of a field of 13 that includes past Arkansas-bred of the year Man in the Can, who is coming off a dominant win at the distance at Oaklawn.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.