Sam Pittman describes his planned outfit for Kentucky Derby

Spring ball is over and for Arkansas head coach Sam Pittman, that means it’s Kentucky Derby season.

For over two decades, Pittman hosted Kentucky Derby parties at his home. COVID halted his plans for year 25 and hasn’t picked back up since. This year, Pittman plans to attend the 150th running of the Derby and is going to dress to impress, he told SEC Network host Paul Finebaum.

“They’re going to say, ‘Do you own one of the horses?’ That’s how good I’m going to look, Paul,” Pittman told Finebaum. “But I know I’m going to have a linen suit on and try to look as good as old 62 (year old) me can look but yeah. And my wife, Jamie, man, she’s, she showed me her outfit last night, actually. And she’s gonna look great.

“It’s just a lot of fun and certainly there to celebrate with the Hamby’s (Dan and Scott, owners of Mystic Dan) and for all their horse has done. [The horse] has a really cool name, it is Mystic Dan. He’s the number three horse named after their father. And so that’s obviously the one I will be rooting for.”

Trained by Ken McPeek — a horse racing trainer with over $110 million in career earnings — Mystic Dan is a Goldencents colt who made his debut at Keeneland in October of 2023. On New Year’s Day 2024, Mystic Dan finished fifth in the one-mile Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park, which was a Kentucky Derby qualifying race.

Ironically, Mystic Dan has seen his most success in Arkansas. At the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes at the Hot Springs, Mystic Dan finished first as the 11-1 unlikely favorite to win 20 qualifying points for the Kentucky Derby. Later in the $1.5 million Grade 1 Arkansas Derby on March 30, he logged a third-place finish there which earned him 25 more points — enough to make the field. ]

Pittman will be pulling for Mystic Dan and has 20-1 odds to win the race as of this report, which, if the Arkansas coach were a betting man, would earn whoever bet on the Hansby’s horse a handsome payout.

Below are the top eight thoroughbreds as they stand on Thursday:

Fierceness (5-2)
Sierra Leone (3-1)
Catching Freedom (8-1)
Forever Young (10-1)
Just a Touch (10-1)
Dornoch (20-1)
Mystik Dan (20-1)
Just Steel (20-1)

The 150th edition of the Run for the Roses gets underway at Churchill Downs with an expected start time of 6:57 p.m. ET.