Lance Gasaway, Owner of Mystik Dan

We want to not take any of his time unnecessarily.

His name is Lance Gasway. He's in the ownership group for

Mystic Dan wins the Derby on Saturday and I'll open it up

with the most basic thing of all.

How much have you slept since Saturday?

You know, actually Louis, Saturday night, I I actually got

a good night's sleep after the race.

And then of course we had to get right back up early that morning

and back to the barn at 7:00. So, you know, it didn't last

long. And then last night we had a

long drive back home to Arkansas and slept, slept okay when I got

home. So actually the last two nights

I really kind of took a little pressure off and slept good.

Fantastic. Love to hear Lance.

Guys away with us Order of Mystic Dan.

Look, you, you, you know, you buy this horse and and the game

I'm the more I'm around it, Lance, the more I'm amazed that

we ever get a single thoroughbred at the starting

gate. It is such a process to go for

beer leg and Wheeling and all these sorts of things to the

starting gate for any race. Can you kind of just talk about,

you know, the process with this horse?

When did you think you knew you had something with him?

You know this horse, He was bred right there, you know, in

Kentucky, right there down at Lexington, at Magdalene, at

Kenny's farm and born and raised there.

You know, when he was working the horse down in spring in

Silver Springs, down in Florida, you know, they thought when he

was breaking the horse, they thought they could tell the

horse had some talent. And then when they got him up to

Ken and started working the horse the first time, you know,

the posted workouts, I've seen a 34.

When I called Kenny and I said I was already 4:00, I've never

seen a 34. Pretty furlong work.

And he said, oh, I don't put nothing into that now, you know.

And I said, OK, so, you know, we just kept watching progress.

And when he runs second at Keeneland, that first out going

6 1/2, I I knew we had something special in, you know?

Man, Well, that's fantastic. Well, you know, you mentioned

Kenny Mcpeak. This is a $10,000 breeding job,

right? I mean, this is, this is the

kind of stuff where you hear about the little guy.

Now, obviously Kenny Mcpeak in this game, not a little guy, but

frankly, this, this amount of investment, this kind of thing,

this isn't it. You know, this isn't Juddmont,

this isn't Godolphin. Talk about Kenny Mcpeak.

I wrote about him this weekend. And and just an appreciation of

the fact that something you just talked about, actually, I don't

feel like he trains his horses into shape, He runs them into

shape. Do you like that about him?

Yes, absolutely, yes. You know Kenny, he's always told

me. He said, you know, first time I

run, I don't look at my percentages.

And he said, you know, what I look at is I would rather run a

horse at 7580%. And he said instead of three

workouts, I think one race is better than 3 workouts.

And he said, you know, finish them off at that.

And that's why, even more so when we were on 2nd that first

time going 6, 1/2, I'm like, hey, you know, we got something

here. He's going to be tough next out.

And sure enough, we'll go to Churchill the next out and run a

5 1/2 and, you know, 3/5 off a track record, you know, So we

knew we had some bikini. He's, you know, has a great eye

for horses. That's where he's made his name.

And you know, when we were talking about breeding, ma'am,

I'm making a bluemare out of him.

He's the one who talked us into it and said, hey, I think you

ought to breed the golden sands, let's put some speed into her.

And here we are, the Mystic band.

Kenny Kenny got a great eye for that.

Golden Cents is his dad. He is the sire.

We try to use the simple terms around here so all of our sports

audience can get in on the the banter here.

Do you think the have the Golden Cents people sent you a muffin

basket or anything yet? You know Spencer Farms, they

have taken very, very good care of us.

They have, they give us some best and you know they they've

done a lot of things for us. But yeah, they did very, very

good to us. Look this is this is one that

came up in your you know you bred this horse and he comes up

in in your care. You know he runs in that smarty

Jones he's kind of up the track they're they're in the mud the

next time and and I, it's amazing Ryan Hernandez junior in

the Southwest kind of gave away his idea for running at the

Derby did he not By cutting the corner, running that rail.

I thought to that point in the year, by the way, Lance, that

Southwest ride was the best ride of the year in North America,

2024. Well, that move that he made,

knowing where to be on the track and the horse just pulling away

runs that one O 1 buyer. What was that day like?

It was. It was, it was phenomenal.

I mean, and Brian Hernandez, I can't give him enough credit.

You know this guy, you know, he's not a big name.

Nobody, you know, talks to him like some of the big name

jockeys. But this guy is one of the best

jockeys I've been around. He really is.

And he knows what to do. He has a game plan going in.

You know when we drew the three hole for the Derby, we kind of

knew what we was going to do. We really thought door knock

will go out in front of us. We would tuck him behind him,

but you know he didn't break well.

We broke sharp. You know Brian put him in

perfect position and rode the rail around just like in the in

the Southwest. I mean, you know that gap opened

up. This horse has a turn of foot

and he just takes off. You and I have something a

little in common here. My brother's birthday would have

been yesterday. He passed away when I was a

teenager and so every time around Derby time, I think about

my brother just 'cause it would have been his birthday.

And your father passed away last year on on May 4th, and then you

all go ahead and win the Derby the next year on May 4th.

Talk a little bit about your dad, Clint, sort of his

influence and how much you love this game and what it meant to

win. I mean, exactly a year later.

What a what an incredible coincidence.

You know, so like the the broommary, ma'am.

My dad and and myself and Daniel Handy and my brother bought her.

That was one of our big, I guess you would say first purchases

and we'll pay 50,000. OK.

So we're not big into it, people.

And we land her and her career ended and we start talking about

putting her as a broommary. And you know, dad said, you

know, son, I I just don't think I want to be a Bob net.

You know I'm 80 years old. I'm.

I'm probably not going to live long enough to see the babies.

Well, sure enough, you know, he didn't make it to watch Mystic

Dan, the first baby. But Dad grew up doing the

horses. I mean, he would go to horse

races and we had a dog track here in Arkansas and West

Memphis that we he would go to them and he would take us to

them. And you know, we just all fell

in love with it and got in the horses.

And then my brothers end up getting out and it was just me

and my dad. So then he and I got real close

on buying horses together and it just be me and him, you know,

it's just something he wanted to do with just both, you know the

two of us and we bought we had Wells value that won the

Louisiana Derby in 2020 and that was just a passion that my dad

had and loved the game. And I I love the game.

I love being around the horses, me and off the outside, we go to

the barn and feed them peppermints.

You know, when we're at the track they're at.

I mean it's just, it's just exciting to us and I'm a former

player, football player, so you know, it's A to me, it's also a

competition, you know, You know, it's a challenge, you know, I

want to win and I'm probably competitive to a fault, but

that's just, that's just the way I am, you know.

I was very fortunate to host this show and Lance Gazaway with

us. He's the owner of Mystic Dan

with with a man named Dan Nestle, of course, the great

basketball player, and he said it was way easier to play in the

ABA finals as far as butterflies than to be a horse owner and

watch them run in races. Do you have that same experience

having been a football player now watching your horses?

You know, I don't in football, you know, after my freshman

year, you know, my freshman year, I was scared to death.

You know, once you get a little experience in, I mean, I

remember the first pass they ever threw to me, my cousin was

an All American tight end and I was a wide receiver.

So they, he went up the little flag out and I run out and out

and they throw it to me because everybody acknowledged to my

cousin and heck boggled right to my hand, you know, scared to

death. But as my career progressed, you

know, sophomore general year, you know, it's got where I went.

I didn't get nervous for the game and horse racing, you know,

I really don't get too nervous now.

The big ever since I've been getting to this level, these

greatest stakes races. Yeah, that's a different level.

In the Kentucky the other day, yeah, I had butterflies bad.

Lance Gazaway with us. He's the owner of Mystic Dan.

A couple more will get you out of here.

Obviously comes out of the race. I haven't heard anything

negative about how he came out of the race.

Can you tell us how he's been? So the the the morning after the

race, he left about half his food tub.

He didn't need it all. But you know, Kenny said that's

kind of normal with a light race like that.

So you know, we're just going to have to watch him the next few

days, see if he gets back in the tub.

As for physically, you know, there's no issues whatsoever.

I mean that his legs were cool, everything was good, but, you

know, we got to, you know, get him back in that food tubs.

Any updates on the Preakness? Can you share anything with us

there? You know, we honestly have not

decided yet. Once again, it's all got to, you

know, depend on how he comes out.

You know, the first day after the race it takes two or three

days to see how they really, truly come out of this race.

And you know, that was a hard race on that horse.

He's not a real big horse. So we'll we'll watch him here

the next two or three days, probably the end of the week.

We'll make a decision on it. This is a life changing moment.

I mean for sure right? I mean to have the Derby winner

and and frankly not a fluke Derby winner.

This is a horse that had won a Grade 3 coming in and, you know,

and ran third in the Arkansas Derby.

I think we forget that, you know, he wasn't somewhere miles

up the track of the Arkansas Derby or something.

You're in the winner's circle though, and and you get that

trophy. You're standing next to Kenny

Bryan's up there. What's that moment like?

Oh, it's it's surreal. I mean, it really is.

And you know, Governor Shears, you know, is just as gracious as

he could be. Really enjoyed visiting with

him. I mean, super nice guy, loves

y'all State. I mean, you know, I think you

guys got a great governor, but it's just a surreal moment

sitting up there in front of 156,000 people.

You know, accepting that is just unbelievable.

You know, the LA Times asked him about Bob Baffert, and they

interviewed me for the same story, and they quoted me before

the governor. Do you like that Lance Lance is

getting a flavor of the show here.

There we go. Yeah, that's a trick question.

You can like the governor more than me.

It's all right. His name is Lance Gaza.

He is the owner of Mystic Dan. So long term, one of the things

that I like and I and it's very frustrating about Kenny is

something we talked about. He runs his horses into shape

and sometimes that 80% horse wins, right.

And and it's very hard as a handicapper to try to figure

those things out. Let's, you know let's look past

the Triple Crown series here. If Mystic Dan, you know, has a

really good three-year old season, does that does that

breeding shed call you in a way that it sets you up to be an

operation for a very long time? Or is this the kind of thing

where, man, I love seeing my horse on the track.

I really trust Kenny. I'd rather have him run as a

four year old. You know, to me is the fans.

For the fans and all, I like running the horses.

I I I truly like running them. If this horse stays healthy,

yes, I would like to run him up into this four year old season,

you know, possibly through the Pegasus and maybe some of the,

you know, international races. Yeah, the Arabian Peninsula

races, Yeah, sure, Yeah. Yes, that's what ideally I would

love to do. But you know, the horse would

tell us that, you know, if he, if he continues to stay healthy

and all, you know, absolutely we'd like to run him up into

there at least. And I and I, you know, I have to

do this because it's my job. I know you haven't made a

decision on the Preakness, but if he is capable, will you send

him to Baltimore? You you know that will be

something that myself, Kenny and other partners discuss.

You know, in all honesty, you know Kenny, I trust Kenny's

judgement. You know, if Kenny says, hey,

this horse is 100% fit, you know, hey, we need to run this,

we can win it. You know the biggest concern I

have is, and you know, Baffert's going to bring Moose over there

to Pimlico and and Moose is a good horse no doubt.

He beat us in Arkansas Derby. You know, I, I, we had a rough

trip in Arkansas Derby. We'll go full wide on both

turns. We get bumped, we get hit hard

and we have to pull back. I think with a clean trip we've

definitely been closer. Could we beat him?

I don't know. I agree.

I agree you'd be closer. Yep.

But you know, to face a horse of that caliber, you know, I'd like

to have my horse on a six week rest too, you know, So did we go

in there with a half cocked pistol?

You know, I I don't want to do that.

So it's all depends on, you know, if the horse is is ready.

If he's ready, we'll go for. It awesome.

All right. Well, he is Lance Gazaway, owner

of Mystic Dan. The Old, the old home bred man.

It's just a fantastic story. Are you going to keep trying?

How many derbies do you want to win, Lance?

Hey, I want to win as many as I can.

I'm competitive by nature. Hey, if I can win one every

year, I take it. I was just, I was texting with a

friend and I'm going to, this is purely because I have a radio

show and I can ask this question.

So a friend of ours and a guy we really started to talk to when

he was still in the Bay Area is Matt Dennerman.

He's now calling races down your neck of the woods at Oaklawn

Park. And the people there have really

figured out this guy's a superstar and I've loved

watching it. First question, you can you can

gush about Matt because everybody does and everyone

should. By the way, he's one of the

great guys in horse racing. He got that Monmouth job this

summer. He's going to, he's going to be

great in New Jersey. But talk about Matt and then

talk about the environment at Oakland.

What do they do right that you think other places could pick up

on? You know, Oaklawn is just it's

it's like it's a smaller track. Of course, you know Churchills.

You know, just ungodly. It's the old Yankee Stadium.

That's right. Yep, there you go.

At Oak Launch, it's, it's an old school stadium.

It's very home. Like, you know, there's a little

bar right across the street. We all go to activations and

have a few drinks, you know, and it's just really laid back.

I I get this small town by you know Oak Lawn.

You know it's it's more personable I guess you would

say. I mean just because it's it's

smaller. Don't get me wrong.

Churchill Downs, they treated us like royalty when we was out

there. You couldn't ask anything better

than the treatment we received there.

Oak Lawn you know you you know more people you know us being

home people. Matt as a announcer, I mean I

thought he did a fabulous job this year.

I mean, this guy come in here and, you know, learned the

horses, learned the system there, hit Matt, come across the

street a few times, You know, we've seen him in that chase and

say hi. He's a great guy, great guy.

I'm glad that's working out because he deserves it.

And and I I think Oaklawn's the kind of place until you're

there, until you're surrounded by that buzz and a town that

really cares about it. You know you you really don't

understand. You know the depth of what you

just talked about that small town feel that that feel because

everybody wants to be there, right.

No one goes to Oaklawn by accident, right?

You might end up at Churchill by accident because of a tour or

something like that. You don't end up in Oak Lawn or

Hot Springs by accident, that sort of thing.

So he's Lance Gazaway. He's the owner of Mystic Dan.

I'm going to get you out of here on this.

It's a little a bit of a different question, but we are

sponsored and presented by the the Kentucky HBPA here in this

state on all of our horse racing coverage.

If someone was thinking about getting into horse ownership and

getting involved in the game that way, what would you say to

them? You know it's it's a it's a

tremendous game and it's it's very enjoyable.

I mean it's got its ups and downs.

I mean you know these these animals are athletes and that's

the scariest thing about it. I mean you know every day they

go out there one bad step and their career could be open.

So it it's it's a very rewarding game.

I mean, naturally we just wanted Kentucky Derby, but it's also

very taxing game, you know, that it can wear on you.

I mean, it can be very, very frustrating.

It can be. But you know, you just got to

love it. You got to love the competition.

And if you love that, then it's it's for you.

Well, there you go. He's Lance Gasly.

He owns Mystic Dan. We will find out about the

Preakness suit. I've got your phone number, so

if I text you, I'm not trying to be, you know, prickly.

I'm actually trying to find out because I'll be there in a

couple weeks. So hopefully Lance, I'll get to

meet you. Hopefully your horse is feeling

well. If he's not able to run in the

Preakness, hopefully we see him. You know, I don't know Belmont,

obviously a Saratoga. This year we're in the Traverse

in the Haskell, something like that and a continued success.

I'm so glad he came back. OK to me, that's always number

one. And Lance, thanks so much for

spending part of your day with us today.

Thank you guys for having me on. All right, Lance Gasway.

There you go, down in Arkansas.