Now trainer Kenny McPeek and former jockey Robby Albarado are running the champion in fair conditions in Baltimore wondering if wet weather in the weekend forecast might also bend the odds further in Mystik Dan’s favor.

“I’m doing a rain dance all this week,” Albarado said. “I’m not saying he has to take a racetrack with him, but we know he gets over it well.”

Albarado, now a jockey agent, compared the running style on a sloppy track of Mystik Dan to 2007 Preakness winner Curlin.

“He feels good on all tracks, but there’s something about this that he just gets over (mud and sloppy courses) easy,” Albarado said. “On a muddy track, Curlin would just maul them. He got over it like glass … like an ice skater. This horse is similar getting over it the same type of way. It’s definitely not a disadvantage for him.”

Brian Hernandez Jr., a friend of Albarado, will be back aboard Mystik Dan on Saturday after winning at Churchill Downs in a photo finish. He spent Thursday at Churchill Downs working out Kentucky Oaks winner Thorpedo Anna. He also was in attendance across town at the PGA Championship at Valhalla Golf Club.

The Derby weekend sweep wasn’t the first of its kind for McPeek and Hernandez Jr. They pulled the double at Oaklawn with Mystik Dan sprinting far ahead of the field on a rain-soaked track to claim the Southwest Stakes by eight lengths on Feb. 3.

Justify, a Baffert-trained horse, was the last to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness in 2018.

Two other Derby entries are in the Preakness field: fourth-place finisher Catching Freedom and Just Steel, who ran 17th.

–Field Level Media

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BALTIMORE – (Staff and Wire Service Report) – Seize the Grey led gate to wire, holding off a charge from Mystik Dan to capture the 149th Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course.

Over a muddy track, Seize the Grey broke swiftly under jockey Jaime Torres and led the field out to sensible fractions. Seeking to replicate the ride that led Mystik Dan to the Kentucky Derby two weeks earlier, jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. had his mount in an early ground-saving position stalking the early pace with Imagination to the outside.

When the field hit the far turn, Seize the Grey moved on the rail, forcing Mystik Dan to his outside. Now having the ground saving position, Seize the Gray opened up a gap, which Mystik Dan failed to close at the head of the stretch. The winning time for the 1 3/16-mile race was 1:56.82.

Mystik Dan finished 2 1/4 lengths back of Seize the Gray. His loss extends the current Triple Crown drought to six years. Catching Freedom finished third.

Seize the Grey’s win made the 88-year-old D. Wayne Lucas the oldest trainer in history to win a Triple Crown race. Conversely, Torres won in his first Triple Crown start.

–Field Level Media

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