The Courier-Journal (Louisville)
Mystik Dan’s most notable ancestor won Triple Crown
Mystik Dan, the long-shot winner of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday evening, is the son of Goldencents, a sire who won multiple graded stakes races, and Ma’am, his dam.
Mystik Dan was foaled March 4, 2021. He was bred by his owners: Lance Gasaway, Daniel Hamby & 4G Racing, LLC. Mystik Dan has never been sold at a public auction.
Mystik Dan won the Derby at 18-1 odds.
Goldencents, his sire, won seven times in 18 starts, with a win-placeshow rate of 78% (7-7-0). Among his victories were a trio of Grade 1 triumphs: the 2013 Santa Anita Derby and the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in back-to-back years (2013 and 2014).
Ma’am, Mystik Dan’s dam, won four times in 23 starts during her career, though no victory was a graded-stakes race. She had a win-place-show rate of 52% (4-3-5).
Saturday’s win was the first in the Derby for all of Mystik Dan’s connections: his aforementioned owners, trainer Kenny McPeek (had been 0 for 9 in the Derby, with his best previous showing a second-place finish with Tejano Run in 1995); and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. (this was his fifth appearance in the Run for the Roses, with his prior best result eighth with McCraken in 2017).
Mystik Dan’s most notable ancestor is 1978 Triple Crown winner Affirmed. Other members of his bloodline include Alydar (who finished second to Affirmed in all three Triple Crown races in 1978), Tiznow (the first, and still only, back-to-back winner of the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2000 and 2001, as well as the only horse to win the prestigious event more than once) and Storm Cat (three times the leading broodmare sire in North America from 2012 through 2014) and twice the leading sire in North America in 1999 and 2000).
Reach Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.