By TONY TAGLAVORE, Journal Sports
Has your dentist ever given you a dozen roses?
Has the staff at your dentist’s office ever asked to have their pictures taken with you?
Of course not, because you’re not Sharilyn Gasaway, you aren’t part owner of this year’s Kentucky Derby-winning thoroughbred, and your horse isn’t the pre-race 5-2 favorite to win Saturday’s 149th Preakness Stakes – the second jewel in horse racing’s Triple Crown.
“Before I went to the Derby, I had a tooth that had cracked,” Gasaway, a Shreveport native and graduate of Captain Shreve High School (1985) and Louisiana Tech (1989), told the Shreveport-Bossier Journal Thursday. “They said they really thought they should get ahead of that – that I probably should get a crown. They had given me a temporary, which I had just about ground down to nothing while going through the Derby. It was scheduled for me to go in and get the temporary off and out the (permanent) crown in.”
But that was before two weeks ago this Saturday, when Mystik Dan, who went off at odds of 18-1, put a nostril in front of two other horses to win the Derby. So Gasaway not only got a Triple Crown win, but last week got a dental crown and roses, to boot.
Another perk which came with winning the Run for the Roses (not the dentist’s roses) was throwing out the first pitch at a Major League Baseball game, which Gasaway did Monday. Her sister’s husband is pitching coach for the Arizona Diamondbacks.
“It was a little overwhelming to do something like that. The pressure of it bouncing – that was the problem. I wanted to make sure I didn’t bounce it. It was a most wonderful experience. I can’t even describe it . . . . I didn’t bounce it,” she said. “It was a little bit wide right, but that’s OK. Don’t look at the video from behind the catcher. The side view looks OK. You can’t really tell.”
Gasaway spoke to the Journal from Baltimore, site of Saturday’s Preakness. Gasaway, who lives in Arkansas, had just attended The Alibi Breakfast, a Preakness tradition dating back to the 1930’s, and part of the past two weeks Gasaway will always remember.
“It’s been a crazy whirlwind, but what a dream of a lifetime for us (along with her husband, Brent – they’ve been a couple since they met a month before they graduated from Shreve). We’re still in shock.”
Yes, it would be something if the Gasaways return to the winner’s circle Saturday afternoon at Pimlico Race Course. But win or lose, she can always say a horse she co-owned won the biggest prize in horse racing.
“(Hall of Fame trainer) D. Wayne Lukas said, ‘I’ve won the Breeders’ Cup. I’ve won this and I’ve won that – races all over the world. But all anybody cares about is if I’ve won the Kentucky Derby. It is the race everybody knows and everybody watches.’ So, it was super special. And to win the 150th Kentucky Derby, it was even more special.”
Mystik Dan, winner of three of his seven career starts (earning $3,741,360), is proving owners don’t have to buy their way to horse racing success. Born March 4, 2021, the Bay colt wasn’t bought at a sale. He was born from one of Gasaway’s mares.
“We had been going to the sales a lot and weren’t successful, because we don’t have unlimited funds, even when we’re partnering . . . . Horse prices have been going through the roof, even since Covid. We thought at least we could breed some. At least we knew we would have a couple of horses running. That’s kind of the angle we were going after. We have four mares that we’ve had foals out of. To have one – this is the first foal that has made it to the track for this mare – is just amazing.”
Aren’t things always better when they’re homemade, instead of store-bought?
“(My horses are) like my babies. There’s something special about all of them. As long as they’re happy and successful, I think that will bring me joy. To think we will ever have another Kentucky Derby winner? I’m hopeful of that, but I know the chances of those things happening are slim.”
It wasn’t a given Mystik Dan would run in Saturday’s Preakness. In fact, the decision wasn’t made until this past Saturday. The reluctance goes back to when Mystik Dan broke his maiden, ran two weeks later, and finished a disappointing fifth.
“Afterwards, they scoped him and he had a lung infection. So, that kind of explained what happened. I think that was the apprehension we had about running him back so fast. We didn’t want to stress him after the Derby – a huge, huge race. And we don’t normally run our horses back in two weeks. When he came back after the (Derby), he didn’t eat all his feed. I had probably given him too many peppermints,” Gasaway said while laughing.
But in the following days, Mystik Dan bounced back, convincing his connections to run him in the Preakness.
“We just said, ‘if the horse is going to take us there, we want to make sure.’ We had blood pulled on him. We had him scoped to make sure his lungs were clean. Everything came back positive. We hated not to give him the opportunity, so here we are.”
Going into the Derby, Gasaway thought her horse would win. Going into the Preakness, Gasaway is cautiously confident.
“We’re going to be running against some fresh horses, and we’re going to be running against a couple of horses that ran on the same day that we did. From that perspective, we’re on an even playing field with those. But you do have a couple of fresh horses in here, and they can always surprise you . . . . If he can get a good trip, I think he could do it. That would put another jewel in the crown on the way to the Triple Crown.”
And make for the three weeks until the Belmont Stakes – the final jewel in the Triple Crown – more exciting that the last two weeks, if that’s possible.
Contact Tony at SBJTonyT@gmail.com