2024 Belmont Stakes Contenders: MYSTIC DAN

McPeek said bloodwork on the Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up came back normal after he breezed 5 furlongs on Saturday over Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track. Mystik Dan was timed in 1:01.44, with a final quarter in a solid 24.88 seconds. When the colt ate up all his feed that evening, McPeek decided the Belmont was a go.

“He’s won at a mile and a quarter already,” he said, “and I think he’s capable of doing it again here.”

The son of two-time Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Goldencents is “a very easy horse to train. He’s sort of a quiet type, an old soul. He’s not a very big horse and very efficient. He’s very uneventful.”

Mystik Dan’s laid-back demeanor helps conserve the energy he’ll need for his third Grade 1 race in five weeks. He and Seize the Grey are the first classic winners to compete in the entire series since Justify swept it in 2018.

“The only things Mystik Dan does fast are breeze and race.”

Betting advice: Mystik Dan ran well off short rest at Pimlico, where the 2-1 favorite couldn’t catch front-running Seize the Grey. Serious win contender belongs on all your tickets.

Post position: TBD

Odds: TBD

Jockey: Brian Hernandez, Jr.

Trainer: Kenny McPeek

Owner: Lance Gasaway, 4 G Racing, Daniel Hamby III, Valley View Farm

Career record: 8-3-2-1

Career earnings: $4,141,360

Most recent race: Preakness, May 18 (2^nd)

Top Equibase speed figure: 110

Pedigree: Goldencents-Ma’am, by Colonel John

Color: Bay

Running style: Stalker

Notes: It’s only the second time since 1925 that the Belmont won’t be run at 1½ miles. In the pandemic year of 2020, it was shortened to 1 1/8 miles around one turn … Like Bob Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas, McPeek has a career Triple Crown. Besides this year’s Derby, the 61-year-old won the 2002 Belmont with Sarava and the 2020 Preakness with the filly Swiss Skydiver … Last month he became only the third trainer to take the Kentucky Oaks (Thorpedo Anna) and Derby in the same year.