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By Kathy Wray Coleman, associate publisher, editor-in-chief

CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM,LOUISVILLE, Kentucky-Ridden by jockey Brian L. Hernandes Jr. and trained by Kennny McPeek, and with odds of 18-1, Mystik Dan pulled off an upset and  won the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky, the first leg of the coveted Triple Crown.

The 20 horses that took to the racetrack for a two and a half mile run competed for a winning purse of $3.1 million, which went to Mystik Dan, a purse that nearly doubled last year's $1.86 million winnings.The total purse was $5 million and the top five horses received payouts, including $1 million for second place, $500,000 for third, $250, 000 for fourth, and $150,000 for fifth place.

Sierra Leone (9-2) finished in second, and Forever Young (6-1) finished third, with the trio only fractions apart as Mystik Dan crossed the finish line first before a roaring crowd of spectators.

This year's race was not controversial like last year's Derby where some 12 horses died weeks leading up to race, upsetting PETA, which demanded an explanation for the fiasco from Derby officials.

A strong favorite, Fierceness finished 15th, 24½ lengths behind the trio of winners.

Mystik Dan paid $39.22 to win, $16.32 to place and $10 to show. The $1 exacta paid $129.88, the fifty cents trifecta paid $556.92, and a $1 superfecta for a winning bet on the first second and third place finishers brought home roughly $$8, 544 dollars, thanks to the long-shot Mystik Dan coming in first.

The cheering crowd at the 150th run for the roses was roughly at $56,000, the largest crowd since the 2018 Derby of 57,000 and up from 2020-2023 that saw lesser numbers due the COVID-19 pandemic, with the crowd in 2020 virtually silent as Breonna Taylor protests outside of the racetrack clouded the event.

If Mystik Dan wins the Preakness on May 18 in Baltimore and subsequently the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Belmont New York, the second and third legs of the Triple Crown respectively, he will have won the Triple Crown, behind Justify in 2018 and Seattle Slew in 1977.

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