LOUISVILLE, Ky. — There have been tight finishes to a Kentucky Derby before, but never one as close as the thoroughbred racing world witnessed Saturday.
Mystik Dan, breaking sharply from the third post position, secured a spot on the rail and, quite simply, never left it. However, there was a lot of racing luck involved, because the strategy employed by jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. was to drop back in the early going and save his mount’s best for the homestretch.
The good fortune commenced when no other rider in front of him opted to take his place on the inside. Mystik Dan dropped back as far as eighth place in the run around the first turn and, with a virtual highway open in front of him down the backstretch, began to close in on those in the vanguard.
Even rounding the far turn, no other jockey opted to save ground by dropping over to the rail. Possibly, the reason for hesitancy was the fact that rain had doused the Downs’ surface Friday evening. Water does roll downhill and, especially on the banked turns, the inside dries last.
Regardless of the water content, Mystik Dan continued to close ground and pulled even with the leaders at the top of the home lane. Opening a two-length lead midway down the stretch, Hernandez kept busy with his mount, as danger was developing from the outside.
Locked in a head-and-head battle, Sierra Leone and the Japanize-import Forever Young were closing with a rush, the latter leaning on his immediate rival and bumping him several times during the stretch run. As this duo closed in, it became a question of whether they would overtake Mystik Dan before or after crossing the finish line.
They didn’t quite make it, but it was awfully close. The photo-finish camera revealed Mystik Dan a nose in front and Sierra Leone a nose ahead of Forever Young. In the previous renewals of the Kentucky Derby, there has never been a finish in which the first three finishers have been separated by only two noses.
Saturday’s 150th renewal now possesses that distinction.
