Mystik Dan, the 2024 Derby winner, covers a half-mile in :48 1/5 at Churchill Downs.
Workouts from anticipated Breeders' Cup starters picked up Oct. 24 across much of the country, one week before the start of the two-day Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar. Among the equine stars to breeze Friday was 2024 Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mystik Dan , who is preparing for the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1).
Mystik Dan, who will begin a stallion career next year at Airdrie Stud in Kentucky, posted a half-mile breeze Friday over a fast track at Churchill Downs in :48 1/5 for trainer Kenny McPeek.
Owned by Lance Gasaway, 4 G Racing, Daniel Hamby III, and Valley View Farm, the 4-year-old comes off a victory in the Sept. 27 Lukas Classic (G2) over 1 1/8 miles at Churchill Downs. Bottled up behind horses until the midstretch, he dove to an opening on the inside and outkicked Disarm for a three-quarters-length victory under Francisco Arrieta. Arrieta retains the mount in the Dirt Mile with Mystik Dan's regular jockey, Brian Hernandez Jr., remaining sidelined due to injury, McPeek said.
The Lukas Classic win was his second in nine starts since his Derby triumph, with the other win coming in the Blame Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs in the spring.
Although victorious at 1 1/4 miles in the Derby -- the distance of the $7 million Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) -- McPeek chose to run instead in the $1 million Dirt Mile, believing it allows Mystik Dan to utilize his turn-of-foot most effectively and calling the Dirt Mile "a stallion race."
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"The Classic's going to have a lot of depth to it," McPeek said. "We're not scared of the Classic. We kind of know where he fits in the Classic. We think he's close to those."
A lifetime earner of more than $4.8 million, Mystik Dan is a son of Goldencents , who won back-to-back runnings of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in 2013-14.
McPeek also breezed his other intended Breeders' Cup starter on Friday: Breeders' Futurity (G1) runner-up Blackout Time , who went four furlongs in :49 2/5 in advance of a start in the Oct. 31 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at 1 1/16 miles. He chased the expected Breeders' Cup Juvenile favorite Ted Noffey in the Oct. 4 Breeders' Futurity at Keeneland in his third career start.
Gasaway co-owns the son of Not This Time with Brookdale Racing and Magdalena Racing.
Besides Mystik Dan, another grade 1 winner to breeze Friday at Churchill Downs was D. J. Stable's Nitrogen , the leading 3-year-old filly in the country and one of the top contenders for the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1). The Mark Casse trainee, a daughter of Medaglia d'Oro , was timed in :48 4/5 for a half-mile.
Winner of the Alabama Stakes (G1) this summer at Saratoga Race Course, Nitrogen comes off a close runner-up finish, beaten a head by Gin Gin , with a wide trip against older rivals in the Oct. 5 Spinster Stakes (G1) at Keeneland.
Elsewhere in Kentucky, Lael Stables' She Feels Pretty -- one of the top American hopes for the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T) -- was among a group of intended Breeders' Cup starters who breezed at Keeneland. The Cherie DeVaux trainee went a half-mile on the Keeneland main track in :48 2/5, the same time posted by her stablemate Vahva , who is pointed to the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1).
One of the fastest workouts from Friday was turned in by Zedan Racing Stable's Del Mar Futurity (G1) winner Brant , who zipped six furlongs in 1:12 3/5 at Santa Anita Park for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert. The Gun Runner colt, unbeaten in two starts but untested at a route, is expected to be one of the supporting favorites behind Ted Noffey in the Juvenile.
The horses currently off-site that are scheduled to compete in the Breeders' Cup must travel to Del Mar this weekend or early next week before the Oct. 28 deadline for domestically based horses to be on the grounds.
This story will be updated with more workouts from expected Breeders' Cup starters.
The following pre-entered Breeders' Cup horses worked Friday:
Horse Track Distance Time Division Argos Churchill Downs 4F (Dirt-Fast) :48 3/5 Juvenile Turf Blackout Time Churchill Downs 4F (Dirt-Fast) :49 2/5 Juvenile Brant Santa Anita Park 6F (Dirt-Fast) 1:12 3/5 Juvenile Hey Nay Nay Churchill Downs 5F (Dirt-Fast) 1:00 2/5 Juvenile Turf Imaginationthelady Turfway Park 4F (Tapeta-Fast) :48 Juvenile Fillies Turf Infinite Sky Churchill Downs 4F (Dirt-Fast) :50 Juvenile Fillies Turf Intrepido Santa Anita Park 4F (Dirt-Fast) 1:04 Juvenile Khaadem The Thoroughbred Center 4F (Dirt-Fast) :37 1/5 Turf Sprint Mullikin Keeneland 4F (Dirt-Fast) :48 2/5 Sprint Mystik Dan Churchill Downs 4F (Dirt-Fast) :48 1/5 Dirt Mile Nitrogen Churchill Downs 4F (Dirt-Fast) :48 4/5 Distaff Rebel Red Keeneland 4F (Dirt-Fast) :49 Turf She Feels Pretty Keeneland 4F (Dirt-Fast) :48 2/5 Filly & Mare Turf Vahva Keeneland 4F (Dirt-Fast) :48 2/5 Filly & Mare Sprint Will Take It Churchill Downs 4F (Dirt-Fast) :47 3/5 Dirt Mile
*Note: Clockers in Florida and New York time in hundredths of a second. Other times are listed in fifths.