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The winning horse at Saturday’s Kentucky Derby has Louisiana’s fingerprints all over it. Mystik Dan won by a nose, edging out Sierra Leone and Forever Young. Lafayette native Brian Hernandez was the jockey and Shreveport native Sharilyn Gasaway is a co-owner.
“It’s absolutely unbelievable and a dream of a lifetime for us, we are just grateful and blessed to own this horse,” Gasaway said.
Sharilyn owns the horse along with her husband Brent. They are graduates of Captain Shreve High School in Shreveport.
Sharilyn Gasaway says Mystik Dan’s greatest strengths are of course his speed, but he’s also very calm.
“He’s the calmest and coolest horse and I think that worked to his advantage when he was walking in front of 150,000 people,” Gasaway said.
Mystik Dan had a third place finish at the Arkansas Derby in March and won the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes in February. Sharilyn Gasaway says Mystik Dan’s win in the Southwest gave them the confidence he could win at horse racing’s biggest race.
“When he won the Southwest by eight lengths so convincingly, we were like whoa, yeah, this derby material,” Gasaway said.
Mystik Dan may not go for the Triple Crown. Gasaway says the Kentucky-bred horse has not fared well on two weeks rest. And the next leg of the Triple Crown is the Preakness, which is May 18th.
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