When Crown Imperial won the $500,000 Untapable Stakes at Kentucky Downs a year ago, breeder and owner Sharilyn Gasaway was ecstatic about the 2-year-old mare’s first win.
“This is our biggest victory,” she said.
Crown Imperial returns to Kentucky Downs on Saturday for the $2 million AGS Music City (G2), but she is no longer the top-ranked horse the Gasaway family has raced. That spot belongs to Mystik Dan, who won the Kentucky Derby (G1) on May 4 and finished second in the Preakness Stakes (G1).
“Can you believe it?” Gasaway said in a phone interview Wednesday.
The family stable of Sharilyn and Brent Gasaway is 4 G Racing, who co-breed and co-own Mystik Dan with partners Lance Gasaway (Brent’s cousin), Daniel Hamby III and Valley View Farm. Mystik Dan was not yet making her career debut when trainer John Ortiz changed Crown Imperial’s running style and she broke away to win Untapable by 1 1/4 lengths at 13-1.
Crown Imperial is the result of an unexpected turn of events that transformed 4G’s Mi Fiori from a racehorse at Gasaway Farm in Arkansas to a broodmare in Kentucky. The Gasaway family purchased Mi Fiori as a 2-year-old and lost her in her seventh start, for $50,000 on June 5, 2016. They bought her back for $17,500 on December 7, 2017. They raced her one more time and retired her.
A year and a half later, Mi Fiori’s status as a pet changed when her half-brother, Gucci Factor, won the Poker Stakes (G3) in New York.
“I was just going to try to learn how to ride a horse,” Gasaway said. “I brought her home and rode her and had two different people call me about her. I said, ‘If they want to breed her, I’ll do it.’ And that’s how it happened.”
According to Classic Empire, Crown Imperial is the mare’s first foal. Midnight Storm’s 2-year-old mare Reining Flowers is 1-2-1 in four starts and finished third by three-quarters of a length last month at PG Johnson at Saratoga, her first time in the race. Mi Fiori has a yearling colt, Golden Rule, by Goldencents, who is out of Mystik Dan.
Mi Fiori’s dam Ma’am and Mystik Dan make up half of the Gasaways’ broodmares.
“We went to auctions and we didn’t really have much luck because all the horses sold for more than we were willing to pay,” she said. “We just tried to do the breeding and hoped we would get lucky with a few. We were very lucky.”
Gasaway said the acquisition of Mi Fiori became a personal project for her.
“It took me a year and a half to get her after she was reclaimed from us,” Gasaway said. “She was the nicest horse and I was determined to get her back. I just planned on retiring her to have a good life and be another lawn ornament in our backyard and let me ride her a little bit. Then it became even more special.”
The Gasaways are expected to be at Kentucky Downs this weekend to watch Crown Imperial compete at Music City on Saturday and their partner Neat take on the $1.5 million Global Tote Gun Runner Stakes (G3) on Sunday. Their first Material Witness will be recorded on Wednesday.
Mystik Dan’s surprise win at America’s biggest race has thrust Gasaway, his family and their partner into the spotlight.
“Isn’t that something? It’s amazing,” she said. “We would never have dreamed of that in a million years. I guess people always hope for that fairy tale. It really lived up to that.”
Mystik Dan has been away from the track since he finished eighth in the Belmont Stakes at Saratoga on June 8.
“We rested him,” she said. “We shouldn’t have run him at the Belmont. He was sick that week and I think it was because he didn’t get a rest. We usually rest horses and I think that affected him.
“He’s doing great right now. They’re just taking him for a walk at the ranch in harness. He’ll probably be back in Churchill in a week or so. That’s what I hear. I hope I can see him when I run to Lexington before he goes that way.
Gasaway says Mystik Dan could be ready to race again in December
“We’re planning on him racing when he’s 4,” she said. “I think he’ll be an even better 4-year-old than he was when he was 3. We’re very excited about that.”
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