Trying to make another late charge as he did in winning a close Kentucky Derby two weeks earlier, southeast Arkansas-owned Mystik Dan’s push toward a second jewel of horse racing’s Triple Crown ended just shy of victory Saturday.
Seize the Grey led wire-to-wire in winning the Preakness Stakes on a muddy Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The Jaime Torres-jockeyed horse ran the 1 3/16-mile race in 1 minute, 56.82 seconds and finished 2 ¼ lengths ahead of Mystik Dan, with Brian Hernandez Jr. aboard.
Mystik Dan is owned by 4G Racing LLC, which includes Star City farmer Lance Gasaway, his cousin Brent Gasaway, and Brent’s wife Sharilyn; in association with Daniel Hamby III and Valley View Farm LLC. Lance Gasaway is originally from Gould.
A Preakness win for Mystik Dan, trained by Kenny McPeek, would have been the second known for a horse with southeast Arkansas ties. A Lake Hamilton-bred horse named after the city of Pine Bluff won the race in 1992.
Seize the Grey earned trainer D. Wayne Lukas his 15th Triple Crown win and seventh in the Preakness. The horse paid $21.80 to win, $8.40 to place and $4.40 to show.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
Mystik Dan paid $4.20 and $2,80, and Catching Freedom, ridden by Flavien Prat, paid $3.20.
Mystik Dan’s plan of attack was similar to his photo-finish run in Louisville, Ky. Coming from the No. 5 post, he was the first out of the gate and dropped off the pace some, but stayed on the rail most of the way. Mystik Dan was running fourth at the quarter-mile and half-mile wires.
Coming out of the back turn, he charged from the outside, only for Seize the Grey, who came out of the No. 6 post, to pull away for the win.
Seize the Grey won $1.2 million of a $2 million purse, with Mystik Dan taking home $400,000 and Catching Freedom $120,000.
The final Triple Crown race is the Belmont Stakes in Elmont, N.Y., on June 8.