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Mystik Dan won the 150th Kentucky Derby by one of the smallest margins in the event’s history.
Mystik Dan edged out Sierra Leone by a nose at the finish line in a race that went down to those two horses and Forever Young.
A key move to the inside allowed Mystik Dan to earn the slightest of advantages at the finish line and cash the pre-race odds at 18-1.
1. Mystik Dan ($3.1 million prize)
2. Sierra Leone ($1 million)
3. Forever Young ($500,000)
4. Catching Freedom ($250,000)
5. T O Password ($150,000)
The victory gave jockey Bryan Hernandez Jr. and trainer Kenneth McPeek the rare double weekend sweep of the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby.
McPeek became the first trainer to complete the Oaks-Derby double since 1952. Hernandez is the first jockey to do the double at Churchill Downs since Calvin Borel in 2009. Thorpedo Anna won the Oaks for the Hernandez-McPeek duo on Friday afternoon.
Sierra Leone produced the cleanest race of the favored horses. He made a late run down the outside, but he was one nose away from catching Mystik Dan.
Forever Young attempted to become the first Japanese horse to win the first leg of the Triple Crown, but he finished third in the close finish behind Mystik Dan and Sierra Leone.
Pre-face favorite Fierceness finished 24 1/2 lengths behind the top three horses and was never in contention for first place.
Catching Freedom took fourth, T O Password finished fifth to put two Japanese entries in the top five and long shot Resilience took home sixth.
Mystik Dan will likely participate in the Preakness Stakes in two weeks as his unlikely march to the Triple Crown continues.