Kentucky Derby 2024 Winner Mystik Dan Not Yet Confirmed for Preakness Stakes

Andrew PetersMay 5, 2024

Rob Carr/Getty Images

The 2024 Kentucky Derby winning horse is not confirmed for the Preakness Stakes later in May, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN).

Mystik Dan’s trainer Kenny McPeek and the horse’s ownership group have not committed the colt to the Preakness Stakes, which take in about two weeks on May 18.

“We’re not committed to the Preakness, not yet,” McPeek said on Sunday. “I ran him back once in two weeks, and it completely backfired on me. … So we’ll just watch him over the next week. It’ll be one of those [situations] where we’ll probably take it up to the last minute.”

McPeek said that Mystik Dan will go to the Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga, New York, before the team decides its decision on Preakness.

Saratoga Race Course will host the Belmont Stakes on June 8 as the final jewel in the Triple Crown. The race typically takes place at Belmont Park, but with the track being reconstructed, Saratoga is the host park for the next three years.

Preakness takes place at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore in a quick two-week turnaround, and it seems Mystik Dan’s trainer feels it could be a better move to let the horse skip the race and prepare for the Belmont Stakes.

While Mystik Dan is still undecided about the race, Sierra Leone, who finished a nose behind Mystik Dan on Saturday, is confirmed as not racing in Preakness. Sierra Leone’s trainer, Chad Brown, said the the horse will travel to Saratoga to train for the Belmont Stakes.

Several other horses, including third-place finisher Forever Young and fourth-place finisher Catching Freedom, are still not committed to Preakness.