Preakness Stakes News | Mystik Dan Part Of The Family

Lance Gasaway, his cousin Brent Gasaway and his wife Sharilyn, Daniel “Banks” Hamby III and his brother Scotty, their families and assorted friends are converging on historic Pimlico Race Course to watch their Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mystik Dan run in Saturday’s 149th Preakness Stakes (G1).

It’s all thanks to a moderately accomplished mare named Ma’am, whose second foal and the first to survive went into the record books as the winner of the 150th Kentucky Derby.

That baby now will attempt to become the 37th Derby winner to double up in the Preakness, the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown.

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Ma’am was bred by Keeneland’s celebrated former president Ted Bassett, now 102 years old, and his late wife, Lucy. The filly failed to sell as a yearling following a top bid of $9,500 in 1991. She was sold privately as a 2-year-old to Lance Gasaway, his brother Greg, their dad Clint (who died a year to the day before the 2024 Derby) and Daniel Hamby. When Ma’am was retired from racing, Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway bought out Greg and Clint’s share.

The partners own two broodmares together, while Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway have a couple more of their own. Both very small operations by any measure.

The chance of a two-mare broodmare band producing a Kentucky Derby winner, “is about like winning the Kentucky Derby” as an owner, Lance Gasaway said with a laugh. “Right? A long shot.

“… The odds are astronomical. Chase, my oldest son, looked it up. Half of the foals don’t even make it to the track,” he added. “To be in the 20 to make the Derby is like one-tenth of 1 percent. Then you go to win, you’re — what? — then you’re a half a percent of a thousandth. It’s crazy. Chase said, ‘So Daddy, with those odds, you pretty much hit the lottery.’”

Titans of horse racing spend millions to follow the creed of breeding the best to the best and hoping for the best. While there’s power in numbers, horse racing has a knack for proving the great equalizer.

In 23 races, Ma’am won a maiden-claiming race, two high-priced claiming races and an entry-level allowance race, never running in a stakes while grinding out earnings of $167,923. When she was through racing, Kenny McPeek — who trains Mystik Dan and had trained Ma’am for the Gasaways earlier in her career — suggested they breed her.

With Ma’am being by Travers (G1) winner Colonel John and out of a mare sired by Brazilian import Siphon, the mare had plenty of stamina. McPeek recommended they breed to the young Spendthrift Farm stallion Goldencents, a two-time winner of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1), to infuse some speed. Goldencents’ stud fee was a fraction of what his internationally prominent sire Into Mischief commands.

“That was all Kenny’s idea,” said Lance Gasaway, noting they had no plans to breed Ma’am until then. “We just agreed to do it… Kenny’s made his reputation from his eye with horses. He said he thought it would be good, so we thought, ‘Let’s give it a shot.’

“… As soon as Kenny said that, it was, ‘Yeah, that would be OK with us.’ Everybody was so attached to Ma’am because she was really our first big purchase, and she was a real loving horse. We’d always feed her peppermints. And Mystik Dan is the same way.”

Mystik Dan’s owners became the first Arkansas-based owners to win the Kentucky Derby since W. Cal Partee became the first to do so in 1992 with Lil E. Tee.

“It’s been a whirlwind,” Sharilyn Gasaway said leading up to the Preakness. “We met with the governor of Arkansas. We went on the Senate floor, and they passed a resolution about us…. My sister called and said, ‘Hey, any way you can fly to Phoenix?’ Her husband is the pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks. We flew to Phoenix, and they let me throw out the first pitch (Tuesday night). Can you believe that? We had some jerseys made with Mystik Dan on the back.

“These are all just kind of once-in-a-lifetime things,” she added.

About that ceremonial first pitch: “I was a little wide right, so it’s not a great strike,” she said. “But I did not one-hop it. I got it in there.”

The city council in Star City, Ark., the little town where Lance Gasaway lives, proclaimed it “Mystik Dan Month.” Tens of thousands of Mystik Dan trading cards were printed to be passed around at Oaklawn’s simulcast of the Preakness.

“It’s a big deal for Arkansas,” Lance Gasaway said.

“I didn’t think there’s anything better than the Derby,” Brent Gasaway said, “and we still haven’t come up for air on that one yet, but we’re getting close.”

Added B.J. Harris, Lance Gasaway’s fiancee: “Like they said, we’re still trying to come down off the win in the Derby. But we’re going to come down for sure, so we can win this one.”

Mystik Dan had what McPeek described as a light gallop Friday the morning before the Preakness under former jockey Robby Albarado.

“He didn’t need anything complicated,” McPeek said.