Mystik Dan

On May 4, 2024, Arkansas-owned colt Mystik Dan won the 150th Kentucky Derby in what was the closest three-horse finish since 1947. Two weeks later, the thoroughbred’s quest for the elite Triple Crown (winning the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes) ended with a second-place finish in the Preakness Stakes.

Mystik Dan is co-owned by the 4G Racing Ownership and Valley View Farm, a team consisting of Arkansas-raised Lance Gasaway, Brent Gasaway, and Daniel Hamby. The colors chosen for Mystik Dan were green and black, the colors of Lance Gasaway’s alma mater, the University of Arkansas at Monticello (UAM), where he was an outstanding receiver for the university’s football team in the 1980s. Dan’s trainer Kenneth McPeek was also born in Arkansas.

Lance Gasaway developed an interest in horse racing at an early age after being taken to Oaklawn in Hot Springs (Garland County) on a regular basis by his father Clint Gasaway. Around 2012, Gasaway, his brother Greg, and Hamby, while attending races at Oaklawn, bought three horses, none of which were successful. Despite finding little early success, the group continued pursuing horse racing. In 2020, when their horse Wells Bayou won the Louisiana Derby, their desire to reach the top intensified.

Kenneth McPeek advised the partners to invest in the development of yearlings instead of two-year-old horses. Gasaway and his partners agreed to pursue McPeek’s suggestion with the purchase of the mare Ma’am in 2016. In 2021, McPeek convinced the team, who were on the verge of retiring Ma’am, to breed the mare. For $10,000 (a low fee for this service), the mare was bred with Goldencents. The bay colt, which was named Mystik Dan, foaled on March 4, 2021, at McPeek’s Magdalena Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. The colt’s name was chosen to honor Hamby’s father Dan. Mystik was taken from a tape company that his father had worked for.

Mystik Dan finished second in his first race at Kentucky’s prestigious Keeneland Race Course on October 22, 2023. The partners were encouraged when Mystik Dan won his second outing at Churchill Downs a month later. However, the colt finished fifth in his next and last race of the season at Churchill in 2023.

Mystik Dan was transported to the racetrack at Oaklawn in Hot Springs for the 2024 season. On New Year’s Day, Mystik Dan finished a disappointing fifth in the Smarty Jones Stakes, his second fifth-place finish in a row. On February 3, the colt ran away with the Southwest Stakes, finishing some eight lengths ahead of the second-place finisher. Though finishing third in the Arkansas Derby in March and having won only two of his six races, Mystik Dan had accumulated enough points under the Churchill Downs Kentucky Derby qualifying system to qualify for the historic Kentucky Derby.

Mystik Dan was the seventeenth qualifier in a field of twenty horses to run the Kentucky Derby on May 4, 2024. Dan drew number-three post and left the gate at 17–1 odds. Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., who had ridden Dan for all but one of the colt’s races, ran close to the rail the entire race and led by several lengths in the stretch until Sierra Leone and Forever Young closed quickly. The race resulted in the first three-way photo finish since 1947 and the first photo finish since 1996. After several minutes of delay, Mystik Dan was declared the winner by the narrowest of margins.

Two weeks later, Mystik Dan ran the Preakness Stakes on a muddy track in pursuit of the second leg in the Triple Crown. Seize the Gray led the entire race, with Mystik Dan finishing second at two and one-quarter lengths behind. After much discussion, it was decided that Mystik Dan would run in the Belmont Stakes on June 8. The colt faded quickly in the race and finished a disappointing eighth in a field of ten. For the sixth year in a row, a different horse won each of the three races of the Triple Crown.

The racing future of Mystik Dan, who had won over four million dollars, remained undecided at the end of his 2024 season.

For additional information:
“Derby Winner Owned by Local.” Pine Bluff Commercial, May 6, 2024, pp. 1, 2. Online at https://www.pbcommercial.com/news/2024/may/04/mystik-dan-southeast-arkansas-owned-horse-wins-150th-kentucky-derby-by-nose/ (accessed November 20, 2024).

Hall, Wally. “Arkansans’ Colt Falls Short in Gallant Effort.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 19, 2024, p. 1C. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/may/19/arkansans-colt-falls-short-in-gallant-effory/ (accessed November 20, 2024).

———. “State Has a Grand Day at Run for the Roses.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 5, 2024, p. 1C. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/may/05/state-has-a-grand-day-at-run-for-the-roses/ (accessed November 20, 2024).

Harris, Betty. “Mystik Finish.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 5, 2024, pp. 1C, 5C. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/may/04/mystikal-finish-oaklawn-horse-has-a-nose-in-front-at-the-wire-in-kentucky-derby/ (accessed November 20, 2024).

Leigh, James. “Mystik Dan Trading Card Released.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 8, 2024, p. 8B. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/may/08/visit-hot-springs-to-release-trading-cards/ (accessed November 20, 2024).

Trister, Noah. “Mystik Dans Triple Crown Hopes End.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 19, 2024, p. 10C. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/may/19/mystik-dans-hopes-of-triple-crown-spoiled-at/ (accessed November 20, 2024).

Wisener, Bob. “Trainer OKs Mystik Dan to Run in Preakness Stakes.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 12, 2024, pp. 1C, 10C. Online at https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2024/may/12/trainer-oks-mystik-dan-to-run-in-preakness-stakes/ (accessed November 20, 2024).

Mike Polston
CALS Encyclopedia of Arkansas