LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX 18) — As the most exciting two minutes in sports came down to a photo finish, Magdalena Farm manager Alan Shell held his breath to see if their horse, Mystik Dan, could hold on to win the race.
“I probably started celebrating a little prematurely,” Shell said. “When we crossed the wire, initially, I felt like we got it, but then, after a few anxious moments, we weren’t really sure. My heart was just beating out of my chest.”
“The ride that Brian [Hernandez] gave him was the difference in the race.”
The picture of the finish holds hard proof that Magdalena Farm has finally produced a Derby-winning racehorse.
“In this industry, winning the Derby is something that everyone thinks about,” Shell said. After coming close numerous times, Shell shared, “We’ve won the race in our mind, over and over, over the years, but until it actually happens, you just… we’re still in disbelief, I suppose.”
Since the Derby, the farm is already running as normal. They even had two new additions this week.
“We had two foals born in the hours after the Derby,” Shell said. “We had a foal born at 3 a.m. Sunday morning and then, we had another foal born at 10 p.m. later Sunday so Sunday was a very busy day. I spent a lot of time here, but then Monday was also just business as usual. We’ve got a lot of great horses here and a lot of things that need taken care of, so there’s plenty of work to do.”
Magdalena Farm houses McPeek Racing, and it lives right here in Lexington.
“Kenny [McPeek] bought the farm in 2006,” Shell shared. “It was initially purchased to be used as a training center.”
While the farm still trains horses, it more recently started producing strong foals. Mystik Dan was born and raised at Magdelena. Before winning the 150th Kentucky Derby, McPeek and Magdalena also won the Kentucky Oaks with Thorpedo Anna.
Leading up to the Run for the Roses, the last time a trainer won both the Oaks and the Derby happened in 1952. Knowing that history, Shell said they still felt confident they could pull off the double.
“The same stable hasn’t won both of these races in over 70 years, so we’re thinking, ‘Okay, it could happen.’ We really felt like it could happen but we were very grounded about it and had realistic expectations because so many things could happen.”
“Do you feel any more confident about going after a Triple Crown?” I asked Shell.
“It’s possible. He’s the only one that can do it this year, that’s for sure. That will be left up to Kenny and the owners.”
So far, McPeek Racing is still trying to decide whether to send Mystik Dan to Baltimore for the Preakness Stakes, which runs on May 18. They have some time to decide, but that race quickly approaches.
