Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan looks to regain winning form at Gulfstream’s Pegasus World Cup

Mystik Dan’s journey from the Kentucky Derby winner’s circle in May to Saturday’s Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream Park hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing.

The colt hasn’t won a race since being blanketed eight months ago in Derby roses.

But trainer Ken McPeek is hopeful that a new year and different racing surface could put Mystik Dan back on the winning track, starting with the $3 million Pegasus — the richest race in Florida.

“Some horses go from being a good 3-year-old to a good older horse, and that’s a challenge,” McPeek said of Mystik Dan, who turned 4 on Jan. 1. “Will he transcend from a very good 3-year-old to a very good 4-year-old? Hopefully, he comes back and proves himself as an older horse.”

With three successive losses to follow his Derby triumph — albeit in extremely challenging races — Mystik Dan will try to regain some stature in the 1 1/8-mile event on what is Gulfstream’s biggest day outside of the Florida Derby.

The Pegasus World Cup headlines a 13-race card, 10 of those stakes involving some of the nation’s premier horses, jockeys and trainers.

And while Mystik Dan might be the best-known member of the 12-horse Pegasus field, at least to casual fans, he is the fourth choice on the program odds line at 8-1.

Locked, a lightly raced but emerging colt, is the 5-2 program favorite while local stalwart White Abarrio is second choice at 3-1. A victory in the Pegasus would put Mystik Dan, to be ridden by Brian Hernandez, Jr., back in the national conversation.

“Winning the Derby is just the ultimate peak,” McPeek said.

Mystik Dan simply has been unable to remain there. He followed his Derby triumph with a respectable second-place finish to Seize the Grey in the Preakness — middle jewel of the Triple Crown — but returned three weeks later to finish a badly beaten eighth in the Belmont Stakes.

Then, after being given six months to rest and regroup, he was vanned to California, where he finished last in the six-horse Malibu Stakes, a 7-furlong test in which he never fired.

“That race in California we weren’t thrilled with,” McPeek said. “Maybe I’ll take the bullet for that. It was a long trip to get him out there. It was a two-day trip, truckin’ to California, and he didn’t do well at that distance.”

McPeek is optimistic that the added distance of the Pegasus and Gulfstream’s livelier racing surface will work to Mystik Dan’s advantage.

“I think this is more of a skip-along type of racetrack he’ll get over well,” the trainer said.

One horse who should find both the distance and surface to his liking is White Abarrio, who not only stables in South Florida for trainer Saffie Joseph, Jr., but has enjoyed great success at Gulfstream

The 6-year-old gray has won six of his eight lifetime races at Gulfstream, including the 2022 Florida Derby.

“Any time you don’t have to ship a horse and can run on your home track, I think it’s an advantage,” said Joseph, Gulfstream’s leading trainer. “I definitely think running out of your stall is a plus. We’re happy where we’re at. If everything continues to go well, I think he has a very good chance to win the Pegasus.”

As for Locked, the Todd Pletcher trainee, Saturday’s Pegasus will mark only his seventh career race. The colt, a son of 2018 Pegasus winner Gun Runner, appeared to be a horse on the rise when he ended his 2-year-old racing campaign in 2023 as a leading Kentucky Derby prospect for 2024.

But he was out of action for most of the year with a knee ligament injury before resurfacing in October and eventually winning the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct in December.

“He’s a horse that we always felt would be better going longer, so we’re looking forward to getting him out to a mile and an eighth for the first time,” Pletcher said. “He’s been training really, really well so we’re excited about it.”

John Velazquez is scheduled to ride Locked.

Rounding out the expected field (with program odds) for the Pegasus: Mixto (10-1), Saudi Crown (9-2), Newgrange (20-1), Crupi (15-1), Stronghold (10-1), Steal Sunshine (30-1), Vitality (50-1), Skippylongstocking (10-1 and Power Squeeze (30-1).

Post time for Saturday’s first race is 11 a.m., with the Pegasus set to go off at 5:40 p.m.