Kentucky Derby 2024: Mystik Dan with 18-1 odds wins 150th edition in photo finish - WATCH

Kentucky, USA

Mystik Dan with 18-1 odds won the Kentucky Derby 2024 as a surprise against the favourite Fierceness with 3-1 odds on May 4 at the Churchill Downs. Mystik Dan, however, had to fight for the trophy and $3.1 million prize money as Sierra Leone and Forever Young gave the winner and the derby a photo finish.

Fierceness, who had started well and had taken the lead at the quarter pole, eventually finished 15th in the race. In the official result, Catching Freedom and T O Password finished fourth and fifth to become eligible for a share of prize money. Here below is the official results of the Kentucky Derby 2024:

Kentucky Derby 2024 Total Purse

The purse for the 150th edition of the USA's oldest running sports event was $5 million, up from last year's $2 million. The prize money would be divided into top five finishers with the winner Mystik Dan taking $3.1 million and the runner-up Sierra Leona (9-2 odds) taking $1 million. 

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The race was so close that the Churchill Downs took 10 minutes to release the photo. Mystik Dan's trainer Kenny McPeek also became the first trainer to win both the Debry and the Oaks since 1952.

Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. was also full of praise for Mystik Dan and said: "As a young kid out of Louisiana I got the privilege of sitting in the same corner as Calvin Borel. So I got to watch him ride those Derbies all those years."

"And today, with Mystik Dan being in the three‑hole, I watched a couple of his rides there between the Super Saver (2010) and Mine That Bird. I said: You know what? We're going to roll the dice."

A total of 156,000 watched the 2024 derby as Churchill Downs look to popularise the sport throughout the country with $200 million investment.