CRAWFORD | Churchill still buzzing over Derby finish -- and the bumpy battle for second

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LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) - A morning after the closest Kentucky Derby finish in 28 years and the first three-horse photo finish in 72 years, the Churchill Downs backside was still buzzing not only over Mystik Dan's victory by a nose, but over the bumping battle for second between Sierra Leone and Japanese contender Forever Young.

Photographs after the race showed Sierra Leone's jockey, Tyler Gaffalione, reaching out with his left hand and making contact with Forever Young and his rider, Ryusei Sakai. Sierra Leone made a stirring rally, having to go eight-wide on the track, to get second in the race. The third-place finish for Forever Young was the best ever for a horse out of Japan.

Asked why no claim of foul was made after the race, owner Susumu Fujita's racing manager, Hiroshi Ando, told Churchill Downs, "Claims of foul do not happen much in Japan. It is the stewards' call, not us."

No stewards inquiry was posted after the race, which Mystik Dan won in a time of 2:03.34, the fifth time in the past 10 runnings of the Kentucky Derby that the winning time was in excess of 2:03 (American Pharoah, Always Dreaming, Justify and Country House also failed to break 2:03).

Sierra Leone jockey Tyler Gaffalione reaches out to try to get racing room against Forever Young and jockey Ryusei Sakai in the stretch of the Kentucky Derby.

ERIC CRAWFORD

Sierra Leone and Foreverr Young raced in incredibly tight quarters down the lane as both furiously tried to reel in Mystik Dan, who made an inside move under jockey Brian Hernandez and drew clear in midstretch.

The effort his horse gave to get up for second encouraged trainer Chad Brown, though he said he wouldn't take the colt to the Preakness.

"There was so much bumping going on there," Brown said. "When horses are fatigued, they have a tendency to lean in a bit like he did with his last two wins and it's going to be more exaggerated when they're more tired. He had so much to do and by the time he got to the eighth pole, he was leaning in a bit."

Gaffalione said after the race on Saturday, "I felt like I had plenty of horse," Gaffalione said. "He wanted to lean in today and made it a little difficult. I had a hard time keeping him straight and it definitely cost us. He gives you everything. Very responsive but he loses concentration."

Brown said his jockey was trying to get room to use the whip with his left hand, which the horse responds to. But the bumping made that impossible.

"What Tyler was attempting to do is make room for his left stick, which the horse really respects, and keep him straight," Brown said. "And he was looking for sort of a pathway to use his left stick. But with the bumping, the tight duel between those two horses, it disarmed him with the stick. All he had was a rein to pull on and it really hurt his momentum. He couldn't use it because he had no room to use his left stick without hitting his horse. He didn't want to do that either. So he was trying create a path not only to straighten out my horse who really respects that, he was trying not to foul the other horse with the stick."

Brown said, given all of the adversity, he thought his horse ran well enough to win, but just didn't get the result in the end.

"I'm disappointed with the result, but I'm so proud of the horse, Brown said. "In my mind, he ran the best race. That's no disrespect to the winner. It's just, it's a hard race to win, everything has to go right. With the winner, the horse showed up and was prepared right and he ran terrific. You have to have a trip where everything goes right. It's not (Mystik Dan's) fault the doors opened for him, I wish that would have happened for me. But I don't think less of the winner's performance. It's just an example of two trips. But that's what has to happen here. For us, I don't think we had a bad trip. But our horse was very far back on a track that favors speed and he had to go around a lot of horses and he had a ton of ground to make up. To almost get there despite all that, I really feel he ran the best race. We'll see going forward the rest of the year where he stacks up with the entire body of work."

As for the Japanese contingent, they, too, will head home disappointed in the result, but encouraged that they're getting closer.

Ando said that trainer Yoshito Yahagi was disappointed Forever Young lost, but "how he ran his race made us so proud."

Related Stories:

BOZICH | After dramatic Derby win, McPeek says it's too soon to commit Mystik Dan to Preakness
Mystik Dan wins 150th Kentucky Derby
Churchill Downs welcomes race fans for milestone Kentucky Derby 150
CRAWFORD | Hernandez takes Mystik Dan on a rail ride to Kentucky Derby glory

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