Sierra Leone with jockey Tyler Gaffalione , Forever Young with jockey Ryusei Sakai and Mystik Dan with jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., cross the finish line at Churchill Downs during the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby horse race, Saturday, May 4, 2024, in Louisville, Ky. Mystik Dan desperately fought to hang on with two challengers coming to him in the closing strides. He did, too, after a delay of several minutes while the closest three-horse photo finish since 1947 was sorted out.
To Mystik Dan’s outside, Sierra Leone and Forever Young took up the chase in the middle of the track. As Mystik Dan sped along the rail, Sierra Leone lugged in and bumped Forever Young three times in the stretch, but jockey Ryusei Sakai didn’t claim foul. Mystik Dan got so close to the rail that Hernandez’s boot struck it.The winner’s share of the record $5 million purse was $3.1 million, with the jockey and trainer typically earning 10% each.
It was just the 10th Kentucky Derby decided by a nose — the closest margin in horse racing — and the first since Grindstone edged Cavonnier to wear the garland of red roses in 1996. Fierceness finished 15th in the field of 20 3-year-olds. Owner Mike Repole is 0 for 8 in the derby. He had the favorite in 2011 with Uncle Mo, who was scratched the day before the race with an illness. Last year, Forte was scratched the morning of the race as the favorite with a bruised foot.Hernandez and trainer Kenny McPeek had teamed for a wire-to-wire win in the Kentucky Oaks for fillies on Friday with Thorpedo Anna. McPeek is the first trainer to sweep both races since Ben Jones in 1952.
“We’ve done it with what I call working-class horse,” McPeek said, explaining the colt’s sire and dam weren’t big names.
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