KENNY McPeek and Brian Hernandez Jr. walked into Churchill Downs the first weekend in May with already hefty and accomplished resumes.

McPeek came into the weekend with more than 2,000 victories during a training career that started in the mid-1980s and featured two American classics, 24 other Grade 1 wins and scores of graded stakes scores.

Hernandez started riding in 2003 and racked up more than 2,500 wins, including nine Grade 1s led by the 2012 Breeders’ Cup Classic, and respect of his peers, horsemen and horseplayers.

The two men took it to a level they barely could even dream about last Friday and Saturday – teaming first to win the 150th Kentucky Oaks with the once-beaten contender Thorpedo Anna and following it up with a more surprising 18/1 upset in the 150th Kentucky Derby with Mystik Dan.

“It’s unbelievable,” Hernandez said after winning aboard Mystik Dan in a three-way thriller at the wire.

“We came into the weekend thinking we had good chances, really big chances, both Friday and Saturday. And then to just have the horses pull it off for us, we really have to thank all the guys back in the barn. They put so much work into this to have these horses ready on days like today and yesterday.

“It’s just, like I said, I don’t know how long it’s going to take to sink in, but it’s definitely a surreal moment right now.”

Such a scenario

McPeek, never shy to tout his horses or highlight his own accomplishments, warned anyone who stopped by his Louisville barn all week that such a scenario might unfold in front of Churchill’s famous twin spires.

Of Thorpedo Anna, McPeek cautioned that his fellow Oaks competitors need “to bring a bear because I’ve got a grizzly.”

After she won as the 9/2 second choice over favourite Just F Y I to improve to 4-for-5, McPeek said “count on it” when it was suggested the assembled media might see him again a day later in the interview room for the Derby.

While it might not go down in American sports lore as Babe Ruth calling his home run blast in Game 5 of the 1932 World Series or Joe Namath’s prediction that his New York Jets would upset the 1969 Super Bowl, McPeek’s bold calls will find their own place in racing’s rich history.

The jockey and trainer also etched their names into the record books as the first to team for a sweep of the Oaks and Derby.

McPeek also joined Hall of Famers Ben Jones (1949 and 1952) and Herbert “Derby Dick” Thompson (1933) as trainers to pull off the Oaks-Derby double. Hernandez became the eighth rider with an Oaks-Derby double, joining a group that includes Hall of Famers Eddie Arcaro, Jerry Bailey, Calvin Borel, Bill Boland, Isaac Murphy along with Don Meade and Don Brumfield.

“For three weeks, I felt like we were going to win both races,” McPeek said. “I can’t tell you why. Both horses have been so easy to deal with. The team has done such a great job every day.

“There’s been no drama. Lance and Sharilyn [Gasaway, co-owners of Mystik Dan] have been wonderful people to have involved here. They came in and decided to absorb it all and enjoy it.

“I just believe in mojo. I believe in positive energy. And we had a lot of that. And, you know, we had two really, really good horses.”

Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (Grade 1)

KENNY McPeek credited Brian Hernandez for both classic-winning rides, especially in the $5 million Derby when Mystik Dan needed to navigate his way through a field of 20 from post three.

Runaway winner of the Grade 3 Southwest and third behind Muth and Just Steel in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby in late March – both at Oaklawn Park – Mystik Dan found a spot after the start and past the stands the first time.

Mystik Dan and Hernandez stayed down inside while Track Phantom, Just Steel, 3/1 favourite and 2023 champion two-year-old male Fierceness and Epic Ride battled across the track for the advantage just ahead of Stronghold and West Saratoga.

The opening quarter-mile went in a sharp 22.97secs and the hot pace continued around the clubhouse turn as Track Phantom, Just Steel and Fierceness made it a three-way battle to the half in 46.63secs.

John Velazquez, aboard Fierceness, suspected he might be in trouble early despite his colt’s forward position.

“His first jump was not very good,” he said. “His second and third jump, he was okay. He got pretty aggressive since I had to give him a nudge out of there. The horses on the outside put the pressure on and then he got into the bridle.

“I tried to keep him as settled as much without doing too much but he was already engaged.”

Poised

Hernandez could not have been more pleased. He watched the pace battle play out, which saw Track Phantom and Just Steel continue to lead through six furlongs in 1:11.31, with Fierceness poised to their outside. Mystik Dan stayed inside up the backstretch and into the far turn, racing in fifth.

Just Steel gave way first, on the turn, as Track Phantom and Fierceness slugged it out and the pack started to close from behind. Fierceness came to Track Phantom approaching the top of the stretch and the mile split in 1m37.46secs.

Hernandez made his own hole between Track Phantom and the rail turning for home, bumping each in a move very reminiscent of Borel on Mine That Bird, and opened up.

“Once we got to the second turn … everybody outside of Track Phantom started piling up and piling up. I had a nice little pocket there,” Hernandez said. “I was like, ‘well, we will just sit here and let them pile up.’ Once Track Phantom moved off the rail just half a step, we were able to kind of get through there.

“Once he cut the corner, he got a little separation on the closers that were forced to kind of go around the horses that were tiring.”

And that’s when race started.

Mystik Dan opened up past the 3/16ths pole, accelerating ahead of late runs by Stronghold and Resilience to his outside. Mystik Dan led by two lengths at the eighth pole with second-choice Sierra Leone and Japanese raider Forever Young fully engaged side-by-side and making late surges well off the rail.

The lead shrunk to about a length and a half past the sixteenth pole. Hernandez kept his head down, giving Mystik Dan a furious hand ride as Sierra Leone and Forever Young continued to cut the margin.

Surged

Those two surged in the shadow of the finish but Mystik Dan stuck his nose out enough, just enough, to win by a nose. The first three were a length and three-quarters ahead of fourth-place finisher, Louisiana Derby winner Catching Freedom.

Japan’s T O Password finished fifth in just his third start, with Wood Memorial winner Resilience sixth and Santa Anita Derby winner Stronghold seventh. Fierceness, runaway winner of the Florida Derby, wound up 15th and 24 and a half lengths back.

Mystik Dan won in 2m 03.34secs, nowhere close to the fastest or slowest in the 150-year history of the race. The three-way photo was the first in the Derby since Jet Pilot edged Phalanx and Faultless in the 1947 Derby.

Owned by Lance Gasaway, Daniel Hamby, 4 G Racing and Valley View Farm, Mystik Dan became the eighth winner of the Kentucky Derby to come from the Arkansas Derby.

Run in fine sunny weather, Derby 150th was a huge success. The attendance was 156,710. All sources handle on the day was $320.5 million, a new record. The Derby itself also saw a new record of $210.7 million beating the previous $188.7million. The NBC TV coverage also saw the best figures since 1989.