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The gambling public seemed to know Mystik Dan was going to pull off a win at this year's Kentucky Derby. Turns out he was BetOnline's third biggest liability.
Mystik Dan on Tuesday was confirmed to be racing in this year's Preakness Stakes with a Triple Crown win paying $1000 on a $100 bet.
What follows was the breakdown of betting action coming into BetOnline prior to Saturday's big race.
Kentucky Derby (Fixed Futures Only)
Top 5 Most Bet (Handle)
1. Fierceness (28.7%)
2. Forever Young (11.3%)
3. Sierra Leone (10.5%)
4. Honor Marie (8.4%)
5. Catching Freedom (6.9%)
Top 3 Liabilities
1. Honor Marie
2. West Saratoga
3. Mystik Dan
It's interesting to note that, here at Gambling911.com, Mystik Dan saw the most search inquiries coming in the two hours prior to the race. The BetOnline liabilities were provided to us at 5:15 pm ET and were for the period before 5 pm ET.
The traffic numbers at Gambling911 were staggering following the close call finish as seen below with this one minute snapshot.
Horse racing expert Dick Jerardi doesn't see a Triple Crown happening this year, but he also had Fierceness to win the Kentucky Derby, so perhaps he'd change his mind after seeing Mystik Dan's win by a nose Saturday. In fact, this was one of the most dramatic finishes in the race's 150 year history.
Mystik Dan desperately fought to hang on with two challengers coming to him in the closing strides. He did, too, after a delay of several minutes while the closest three-horse photo finish since 1947 was sorted out.
That year, Jet Pilot won by a head over Phalanx, who was another head in front of Faultless. And the 2024 Kentucky Derby finish was even tighter.
Assuming the top three finishers all race in this year's Preakness Stakes we can see Mystik Dan, the 3rd finisher and nearly first Japanese horse to win a Derby, Forever Young, and Sierra Leon, finishing second, each co-favorites at Pimlico.
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Long shots Track Phantom and Just Steel led the field through the early going, with 3-1 favorite Fierceness racing three-wide just off the leaders.
Track Phantom drifted off the rail, opening a hole that Hernandez squeezed Mystik Dan through, and the bay colt suddenly found another gear. He quickly opened up a daylight advantage on the field.
“When he shot through that spot, he was able to cut the corner and I asked him to go for it,” Hernandez said. “He shot off and I’m like, ‘Oh man, I’ve got a big chance to win the Kentucky Derby.’”
As Mystik Dan sped along the rail, Sierra Leone lugged in and bumped Forever Young three times in the stretch, but jockey Ryusei Sakai didn’t claim foul.
Mystik Dan got so close to the rail that Hernandez’s boot struck it.
The winner’s share of the record $5 million purse was $3.1 million, with the jockey and trainer typically earning 10% each.
“Just a brilliant, brilliant, brilliant jockey and ride,” trainer Kenneth McPeek said. “Brian is one of the most underrated jockeys, but not anymore, right?”
“You get beat a nose in the Kentucky Derby, it’s a tough one,” said Chad Brown, trainer of Sierra Leone. “But I’m so proud of the horse.”
It was just the 10th Kentucky Derby decided by a nose — the closest margin in horse racing — and the first since Grindstone edged Cavonnier to wear the garland of red roses in 1996.
Another reason for the long 10-1 Triple Crown odds might be McPeek's lack of success in the Triple Crown. His only other victory in a Triple Crown race was also a shocker: 70-1 Sarava won the 2002 Belmont Stakes — the biggest upset in that race’s history.
The Association Press was also used for this report
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