Mystik Dan

There's never a good time for a spill, but the one Sunday at Churchill Downs that landed Brian Hernandez Jr. in the intensive care unit at the University of Louisville Hospital could not have come at a worse time. Hernandez sustained seven broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a liver laceration that was treated by a minor surgical procedure. The doctors have told Hernandez he should expect to be out six to eight weeks. That means he will not be able to ride Mystik Dan (Goldencents) in Saturday's GII Lukas...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Trainer Kenny McPeek wanted 2024 Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) to work during her work on Sunday morning. And that is what she did. Maybe a little bit more The charismatic 4-year-old, ridden by Luis Rivera Jr., stepped onto the Oklahoma Training Track just after 7:30 a.m. and did her thing. Working with stablemate Midnight Concerto (Mendelssohn) and Danny Ramsey, Thorpedo Anna went five furlongs in 1:01.80 (3/11). However, the work had a wrench tossed into it when Midnight Concerto far in front of...

NEW KENT, VA-Is it too soon to call 2025 the year of Junior Alvarado? The Venezuelan jockey continued to ride a tsunami of success right into southeast Virginia Saturday, piloting Fort Washington (War Front) to victory in the GI Arlington Million at Colonial Downs. The "other" Claude McGaughey runner, dispatched at odds of 5-1 compared to favored stablemate Integration (Quality Road), has enjoyed a similar run of success once Alvarado climbed aboard earlier this year. After running fifth beaten 2 1/4 lengths to kick off 2025 in the GI Pegasus...

by Stefanie Grimm & Alan Carasso For the first time in it's 24-year history, Virginia's Colonial Downs will play host to a Kentucky Derby winner as 2024 winner Mystik Dan (Goldencents) will make his turf debut in Saturday's 1 1/4-mile GI Arlington Million. Trainer Kenny McPeek has had his eye on the turf for his Derby winner for quite some time, telling the TDN this week that the idea had been on his mind for at least a year. "It was kind of an audible at the line of scrimmage,"...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - For now, it looks like Baeza (McKinzie) is going to stay put in California. Trainer John Shirreffs said Wednesday that a cross-country trip to Saratoga and another shot at Sovereignty (Into Mischief) in the $1.25 million GI DraftKings Travers Stakes is unlikely. "I would say there is not a really good chance of doing that," Shirreffs said by phone from his summer base at Del Mar. Shirreffs said the reason for skipping the Aug. 23 Midsummer Derby has everything to do with getting to Saratoga. Baeza...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - There was never really any thought about running Iron Orchard (Authentic) in Sunday's GIII, $175,000 Adirondack Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. Trainer Danny Gargan said Saturday that Iron Orchard, the 5-2 second choice on the Adirondack morning line, will stay in the barn on Sunday. "I didn't really train her for this race," Gargan said Saturday morning outside his barn on the Saratoga backstretch. "I wasn't going to enter at all and (owners) said let's enter and look at it and then decided to wait." Iron...

Mystik Dan (Goldencents), the 2024 GI Kentucky Derby winner, breezed on the grass for the first time in his career Friday morning, going an easy five furlongs in 1:02 flat over the Oklahoma course with Luis Rivera, Jr. in the saddle. "Really pleased," trainer Ken McPeek said at his Saratoga barn. "I always wanted to try him on the turf, and he looked like he loved it. We're contemplating some options and this is a horse that's done everything we've ever asked him to do. I think he'll relish it;...

Multiple graded winner Mo Plex (Complexity) continued his preparations for the GII Jim Dandy Stakes Friday morning at Saratoga while MGSW Echo Sound (Echo Town) has her eyes on the GI Test Stakes with her own move over the Oklahoma training track. New York-bred Mo Plex went out on Saratoga's main track Friday morning for a half-mile work in :48.84 (22/74) for trainer Jeremiah Englehart. The solo work under Manny Franco, who will have the call in the Jim Dandy, was exactly what the conditioner wanted to see. "The plan...

Greg Geier doesn't remember a time when horses weren't a part of his life. He and his brother Dennis were practically raised on the track. They tagged along with their father, Louisiana-based George Geier, to the barn early each morning on the weekends and traveled north every summer for race meets in Detroit. "We started walking horses when we were eight years old," Geier recalled. "Then we went to grooming and then we went to helping our dad do everything. I never did ride, though. I always thought it was...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Next Wednesday, 2024 Horse of the Year & 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) is expected to be in Saratoga. Trainer Kenny McPeek said she will ship to the Spa from Kentucky along with Mystik Dan (Goldencents), last year's GI Kentucky Derby winner. Thorpedo Anna is coming off a three-length win in the GII, $500,000 Fleur de Lis Stakes at Churchill Downs last Saturday. "She is fine, she is like a rocket ship," McPeek said by phone from Kentucky Thursday. "She loves her work; she loves...

About the only thing missing from Saturday's $1-million GI Stephen Foster Stakes is a Horse of the Year--for good measure, she runs elsewhere on Saturday's blockbuster program on the final weekend of racing at Churchill Downs--but the nine-furlong event is rich in quality and brings together the winners of such prestigious events such as the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, the GI Kentucky Derby, and the G1 Dubai World Cup. A 'bananas' Foster, indeed. The horses that will line up for the 'Win and You're In' qualifier for this year's Classic...

It will be a hugely important weekend for trainer Kenny McPeek as Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and Mystik Dan (Goldencents) will be in action Saturday at Churchill Downs. Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna will be heavy favorite in the GII Fleur De Lis Stakes, while 2024 GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan faces a tough assignment in a loaded GI Stephen Foster Stakes. To talk about the two biggest stars in his barn, his hiring of Jimmy Jerkens and even his new tattoo, McPeek was the Gainesway Guest of...