Sports
Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan might be skipping Preakness Stakes
Mystik Dan’s road to the Triple Crown might be taking a detour before the Preakness Stakes. Kenny McPeek, trainer of the Kentucky Derby winner, said Sunday morning that he has not committed to going to Baltimore to race May 18 after the horse seemed a little off after Saturday’s victory.
“We’re not committed to the Preakness,” McPeek said. “I ran him back once in two weeks and it completely backfired on me.”
One thing that trainers use to gauge a horse’s fitness is how they eat. In short, an empty feed bucket means a happy horse.
“Most trainers don’t talk about all this,” McPeek said. “Look, cards on the table, face up. He left three-quarters of his feed. We couldn’t hardly get everybody out of the barn until midnight, so he didn’t really get a great night’s rest. We’ll watch him today and tomorrow.”
At this point it is closer to a coin flip more than anything else if Mystik Dan will run in the Preakness. There is no need to take any chances with a colt whose breeding value jumped exponentially after winning the Kentucky Derby by the slimmest of noses.
“The back story on that [two-week reference] is that I ran the colt back too quick in November,” McPeek said on Saturday night before knowing about Sunday’s development. “He won really easy in his maiden race and I wanted to stretch him out and it was the end of the season.
Mystik Dan trainer Kenny McPeek raises the trophy with his family after winning the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs.
(Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
“I ran him back in an allowance race going a mile and he coughed up a lung infection on me. Learned a little lesson there with him. I feel if a horse is doing good and we can win a race, let’s give it a run. That one backfired.”
McPeek said a decision might not be made until next Monday when entries are taken for the Preakness. It’s not unusual for a horse to be shipped to Baltimore on the Wednesday before the race.
“We’re going to have a lot of input,” co-owner Lance Gasaway told Horse Racing Nation. “It’s all about the horse. Let’s see how the horse comes out of the race. Give him two or three days. If he comes out good, we’ll look at it. If not, we’ll worry about the horse more than anything.”
If he doesn’t go, it will spoil his rematch with Muth. Mystik Dan finished third in the Arkansas Derby while Muth won it. But Muth was not eligible to run in the Kentucky Derby because he is trained by Bob Baffert, who is in the third year of a ban that was originally set at two years. Churchill Downs barred him from its properties after Medina Spirit tested positive for a legal medication that is banned on race day after winning the 2021 Derby. Baffert has had no horses fail a test since then.
Baffert is expected to also enter Imagination, who finished second in the Santa Anita Derby to Stronghold, who finished seventh in the Derby. Baffert has won the Preakness eight times, including last year with National Treasure.
If Mystik Dan does not go to Baltimore it would heighten the conversation about the relevance of the Preakness Stakes at a time that most horses don’t come back on two weeks’ rest. The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita Park, just turned over Pimlico Race Course to the state of Maryland but still retains the intellectual properties of the Preakness Stakes.
Aidan Butler, chief executive of its racing division, has been floating ideas that the Triple Crown should be retooled with each race held a month apart rather than two weeks from the Derby to the Preakness and three weeks from the Preakness to the Belmont. This could certainly bolster his argument.
There is no doubt that current training patterns do not favor a two-week turnaround. Last year there was only one Derby horse that ran in the Preakness, the only one that mattered, Derby winner Mage. The previous year, Rich Strike skipped the Preakness. In 2021, Medina Spirit ran in the Preakness and finished third. The Derby result was overturned and Mandaloun was declared the winner, so technically the Derby winner was not in the race.
In 2020, the COVID year, the Preakness was held in October and the Derby winner, Authentic, was in the race. The Derby was run in September.
A survey of most of the other trainers by Churchill Downs media relations could not find any takers ready to go to Baltimore. The jockey for T O Password, Kazishi Kimura, indicated on Saturday that he thought the horse could go to the Preakness. But the people who pay the bills have him headed back to Japan.
“He’s good this morning, no problems but he is tired,” Kimura said. “It is what it is. He missed the first step and from there I followed Sierra Leone. He tried hard all the way.”
The second-place finisher, Sierra Leone, will be skipping the Preakness.
“He’s good, but he’s not going to the Preakness,” trainer Chad Brown said. “I’m going to take him to Saratoga tomorrow and he’s going to train there for the Belmont [Stakes]. He’s a little tired. He’s a real laid back horse but when we brought him out, he was a little more tired than he normally is after his races. I think giving him the five weeks to the Belmont is definitely the right thing to do.”
Regardless if Mystik Dan runs in two weeks, he’ll also be headed back to Saratoga, where McPeek has a home.
McPeek now has a career Triple Crown having won the Preakness in 2020 with Swiss Skydiver and the Belmont in 2002 with Sarava at 70-1 odds.
Will McPeek now start to get doubles on his career Triple Crown? The thinking is the answer lies in the feed bucket.
Ten years and one month after Buzunesh Deba finished as the rightful winner of the 2014 Boston Marathon, she was finally given the prize money she never received — but it didn’t come from the Boston Athletic Association.
Rather, it came from a stranger.
When Deba crossed the finish line on Boylston Street in 2014, she didn’t receive international praise, the ceremonial gold wreath or the purse of $100,000 ($75,000 for winning plus $25,000 for breaking the course record). Rather, those honors and winnings went to Rita Jeptoo, who crossed the finish line first that year, but whose victory was stripped by the BAA in 2016 after a failed drug test.
Deba finished just over one minute behind Jeptoo for second place that day, but her time of 2:19:59 still shattered the previous course record set by Margaret Okayo in 2002.
But while Deba’s name replaced Jeptoo’s in the history books after the failed test, the money never appeared in Deba’s bank account.
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Despite Jeptoo’s record being scrubbed and her name being tarnished, her winnings have never been reclaimed. Similar cases have unfolded with the Chicago Marathon, where Liliya Shobukhova won the race three times for a total of $265,000 before she was caught doping. Like with Jeptoo, no money has ever been recovered from Shobukhova.
That is until Doug Guyer gave her the money out of his own pocket. Guyer, a businessman from Philadelphia, personally paid Deba her $75,000 after reading an article in The Wall Street Journal in April about her never receiving her winnings.
“We cried. I called my mother to tell her and she was so happy,” Deba told The Athletic in an email.
Deba, who has competed internationally for Ethiopia, is based in the Bronx, N.Y., with her husband and two children.
She found success at the 2014 New York City Marathon, where she finished ninth, and returned to Boston in 2015, where she finished third.
But for Deba, that 2014 win remains the pinnacle of her career. And for her family, those winnings were sorely needed.
“It means so much. It allows me to train again. We don’t have a sponsor. We have to pay for everything,” she said. “And I have two children. The money will go to my training and my family. We are so grateful. We have waited so long for this and almost gave up. God bless Mr. Doug.”
Guyer, who played football at Boston College and was beaten out for the starting quarterback spot by Doug Flutie in 1981, told the Boston Globe, “It was just about righting a wrong that’s been wrong for 10 years.”
Guyer said he’ll consider sending the $25,000 course record bonus if the BAA doesn’t.
The BAA said in a statement it is in “pursuit of reclaiming prize money awards from Rita Jeptoo” and plans to pay Deba her winnings when the association receives them. The organization said it is backed by policies held by World Athletics and supported by World Marathon Majors.
“The BAA is still pursuing Ms. Jeptoo to recover the prize money for Ms. Deba, which the BAA believes would be a just and fair result for her and all runners who follow the rules,” a BAA spokesperson said.
Deba said she was skeptical of Jeptoo’s performance from the day of the 2014 race, saying she wondered why Jeptoo wasn’t tired when she crossed the finish line.
Deba looks over her shoulder on the home stretch of Boylston Street during the 2014 Boston Marathon. (Photo: Dina Rudick / Getty Images)
But when Deba was told in 2016 that she was the winner, she couldn’t believe it.
“I was in my apartment and I jumped up and down. It was my biggest win,” she said. “Not only was I the champion but I was also the course record holder.”
Despite her decade of waiting for her proper winnings, Deba said she’s never held bitterness against the BAA. Instead, she considers the organization “like family.”
While she took her story public in April, in the weeks before the 10-year anniversary of her win, she held back from sharing it so for many years because she trusted the BAA would do right by her. She also feared that if she said something she would not be invited back to the prestigious race.
“This started when my friend came to my apartment and looked at my second-place trophy and asked, ‘What’s this? Where’s your real trophy?’ I told her that they never sent one to me,” Deba said. “She was so upset for me. We wrote to them and I eventually got my medals. Then they asked me to come to a celebration for the 10 year winners. She told me that I should see what they planned to do about the money.”
In response to The Wall Street Journal story, fans from around the world came to Deba’s defense, with many even willing to crowdfund her winnings.
“I am so grateful to know that so many people are behind me,” Deba said. “It is important that people know how hard I worked to win. This is my job. I was not begging for something that wasn’t mine. A lot went into winning and I am glad to see that the community agrees with me.”
It wasn’t until after the April article was published that the BAA responded about trying to move her case forward, Deba said.
And yet, that doesn’t diminish her adoration for the race or even deter her from wanting to return to the world’s most famous marathon.
“It is still my dream to come back and not only run but win Boston,” she said.
Required reading
(Photo: John Blanding / The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Scottie Scheffler received a ton of support at Valhalla Golf Course on Friday when he returned from jail to shoot a 66 in the second round of the PGA Championship.
At home and on social media, Scheffler received even more support. Golf influencer Grace Charis was among those who showed their love for Scheffler. She posted a photo of herself in a crop top shirt with Scheffler’s mugshot across her chest.
Golf influencer Grace Charis poses for picture on the tenth hole during the second round of the Masters Tournament at Augusta National Golf Club. (Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Network)
“#FREESCOTTIE,” her shirt read.
Charis has 3 million followers on Instagram, 2.9 million on TikTok and another 880,000 on X.
Scheffler was in the mix for the lead after the second round, finishing only three shots off the leader. Xander Schauffele went into the clubhouse 12-under par.
Golfer and social media influencer Grace Charis looks on during the first round of the Masters Tournament. (Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports)
“As far as best rounds of my career, I would say it was pretty good,” Scheffler said after the round. “I definitely never imagined ever going to jail, and I definitely never imagined going to jail the morning before one of my tee times.”
Scheffler faces second-degree assault of a police officer (a felony), criminal mischief, reckless driving and disregarding signals from an officer directing traffic charges stemming from the early Friday morning incident.
Scottie Scheffler watches his tee shot on the 11th hole during the second round of the PGA Championship golf tournament at the Valhalla Golf Club, Friday, May 17, 2024, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
He chalked it up to a “big misunderstanding.”
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City Section
BASEBALL
Friday’s Results
Open Division
Quarterfinals
Granada Hills 3, El Camino Real 2
Bell 3, Sylmar 0
Carson 4, Cleveland 3
Birmingham 8, San Pedro 0
Saturday’s Schedule
(All games at 3 p.m. unless noted)
Quarterfinals
Division I
No. 8 North Hollywood at No. 1 Garfield
Roosevelt at No. 4 Chatsworth
No. 14 L.A. Marshall at No. 11 South East
No. 7 Wilmington Banning at No. 2 Verdugo Hills
Division II
No. 16 Van Nuys at No. 8 Monroe
No. 13 Fremont at No. 5 Harbor Teacher
No. 11 King/Drew at No. 3 Eagle Rock
No. 7 Port of L.A. at No. 2 Sotomayor
Division III
No. 9 Middle College/No. 8 Lakeview Charter vs. No. 1 L.A. University at Dorsey High
No. 12 Valor Academy at No. 4 East Valley
No. 11 Diego Rivera at No. 3 Jefferson
No. 7 Fulton vs. No. 2 Lincoln at Torres High
Tuesday’s Schedule
At Pepperdine
Open Division
Semifinals
No. 3 Carson vs. No. 2 Birmingham, 11:30 a.m.
No. 4 Bell vs. No. 1 Granada Hills, 2:30 p.m.
SOFTBALL
Saturday’s Schedule
At Long Beach State
Finals
Open Division
No. 3 Carson vs. No. 1 Granada Hills, 7 p.m.
Division I
No. 3 Granada Hills Kennedy vs. No. 1 Garfield, 4 p.m.
Division II
No. 2 Marquez vs. No. 1 Chatsworth, 1 p.m.
Thursday’s Schedule
At Venice
Division IV
Finals
No. 10 LACES at No. 5 University
Southern Section
BASEBALL
Friday’s Results
Finals
At Diamond Stadium in Lake Elsinore
Division 7
Oxford Academy 5, South El Monte 4
Division 6
Colony 8, Village Christian 3
Division 5
Chino Hills 4, Santa Monica 1
Division 2
Hart 7, Moorpark 6
Saturday’s Schedule
Finals
At Diamond Stadium in Lake Elsinore
Division 8
Orange County Pacifica Christian (22-6) vs. Azusa (17-5), 10 a.m.
Division 4
Camarillo (23-5) vs. St. Francis (19-13), 1 p.m.
Division 3
St. John Bosco (20-10) vs. Beckman (24-6-1), 4 p.m.
Division 1
Corona (29-3) vs. Harvard-Westlake (27-4-1), 7:30 p.m.
SOFTBALL
Friday’s Results
Finals
At Barber Park in Irvine
Division 8
Hesperia Christian 8, Jurupa Valley 7
Division 6
Ganesha 21, Viewpoint 1
Division 4
Paraclete 8, JW North 0
Division 1
Garden Grove Pacifica 3, Orange Lutheran 0
Saturday’s Schedule
Finals
At Barber Park in Irvine
Division 7
Oxford Academy (25-5) vs. Eastside (22-10), 10 a.m.
Division 5
Liberty (22-6) vs. Cerritos Valley Christian (17-6), 1 p.m.
Division 3
Etiwanda (27-5) vs. King (19-9), 4 p.m.
Division 2
California (28-3) vs. Gahr (18-10), 7 p.m.
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