Whether it is the first Saturday in May or the last one in September, Mystik Dan continues to rack up the wins at Churchill Downs.
Racing in the $500,000 Lukas Classic Stakes (G2) Sept. 27, the 2024 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner was again stellar under the twin spires, securing room in midstretch and outkicking Disarm with an up-the-rail rally. The victory improved him to 4-for-6 locally, with his other Churchill Downs victories being a win this summer in this spring's Blame Stakes (G3) and a maiden victory as a juvenile in 2023.
Though Mystik Dan saved ground Saturday as he did in last year's Derby, his trip—in contrast to that one—was troubled. After stalking the pace in fourth, he was blocked behind a wall of horses entering the stretch, so much so that a late runner such as Disarm got a jump on him into the stretch. But once a hole materialized with about three-sixteenths of a mile remaining in the 1 1/8-mile Lukas Classic, Mystik Dan responded. Diving inside of Disarm, he quickly caught up and surged past him in the final sixteenth of a mile to score by three-quarters of a length.
"Every reason to get beat today, right?" winning trainer Kenny McPeek said.
WATCH: McPeek on Mystik Dan's Lukas Classic win
Mystik Dan's closing furlong in :12.30—according to Equibase global positioning system timing—was too much for his rivals. Mystik Dan hit the wire in 1:49.25 for 1 1/8 miles on a fast track under Francisco Arrieta, who subbed for his regular jockey, Brian Hernandez Jr., who is sidelined due to injury from a spill. Mystik Dan paid $5.14 to win as the favorite.
"First and foremost, I want to send my well wishes to Brian," Arrieta said. "I had so much horse in the stretch. I just had to stay patient and wait for the spot to open. When I saw an opening on the inside I was able to send him down there and he just powered through. He's such a classy horse and I'm very thankful to Kenny and the owners for letting me ride him."
Banishing ran third, 3 3/4 lengths behind the runner-up. Hit Show, Prince of Power, Mystik Dan's stablemate Rattle N Roll, and Willy D's—who set the tempo with splits of :23.45, :47.46, and 1:11.67—completed the seven-horse order of finish.
McPeek said Mystik Dan would race in the Breeders' Cup this fall at Del Mar, though he suggested the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) is more likely than the $7 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) at 1 1/4 miles. He feels that a mile distance best suits his horse's acceleration.
Mystik Dan's sire, Goldencents , twice won the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. He now stands at Spendthrift Farm for a $10,000 fee.
Mystik Dan has five wins from 16 starts—four of them stakes—with three seconds and one third. Saturday's $303,040 first prize boosted his career earnings to $4,819,160. Besides his Churchill Downs stakes wins, he took the 2024 Southwest Stakes (G3) at Oaklawn Park as a 3-year-old.
Preceding the Lukas Classic, Mystik Dan had been a competitive fourth this summer in the Arlington Million Stakes (G1T) at Colonial Downs in his first race on grass, a surface over which he lacked his usual turn of foot.
An already crowded winner's circle presentation that featured Mystik Dan, Bret Jones from Airdrie Stud—where Mystik Dan will go to stud upon his eventual retirement from racing—and owners Lance Gasaway, 4 G Racing, Daniel Hamby III, and Valley View Farm—spilled out onto the racetrack for a follow-up photograph. This one celebrated the horse and the memory of Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who died this summer. Jockeys and outriders joined young people from the stands in that presentation.
Gasaway, Hamby, and 4 G Racing bred Mystik Dan in Kentucky out of the Colonel John mare Ma'am.
Asked what it meant to him to win the Lukas Classic, McPeek's eyes grew moist. He said, "It means a lot. You know, he was a very close friend of mine. We bantered on stage (in jest at the annual Kentucky Derby trainer's dinner), but behind the scenes we talked a lot—it didn't matter what it was about—horses or life, and he's sorely missed."
Video: Lukas Classic S. (G2)
Tumbarumba A Potential Mystik Dan Rival in Dirt Mile
Tumbarumba, fourth in the 2024 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, is bound for the same race Nov. 1 at Del Mar after wearing down favored Most Wanted in the $335,000 Ack Ack Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs.
Though Most Wanted led for the bulk of the running of the one-mile Ack Ack—throwing down contested fractions of :22.68, :45.26, and 1:09.32 with Tumbarumba in hot pursuit—the latter took command when it counted: at the finish. Inching ahead from Most Wanted during the final eighth of a mile, he prevailed by three-quarters of a length, timed in 1:35.44. He paid $16.78 to win.
"He wanted to run today," jockey Tyler Gaffalione told trainer Brian Lynch after the race.
The Ack Ack was a one-turn mile, in contrast to the two-turn Dirt Mile at Del Mar, but Lynch is still eager to try the Breeders' Cup again. Last year, after a runner-up finish in the Ack Ack, Tumbarumba was sent there for the Breeders' Cup and raced up close for three-quarters of a mile, holding second until the eighth pole, before tiring to finish five lengths behind victorious Full Serrano.
"He ran good in it last year and I think he's much more experienced with a lot more confidence, and I know we've got the right rider," he said of Gaffalione, who has been aboard for Tumbarumba's two wins in 2025.
Most Wanted checked in 1 1/2 ahead of show finisher Indispensable.
Tumbarumba, a 5-year-old Oscar Performance gelding bred in Louisiana out of the Street Sense mare Naive Enough, races for Wathnan Racing. He elevated his earnings to $960,020 with Saturday's victory, accomplished with a 7-7-4 record in 24 starts.
