“It’s been known to produce stallions,” McPeek said of the Malibu, whose past 15 winners include five horses ranked among North America’s top 50 sires in 2024 (Twirling Candy, City of Light, Omaha Beach, Runhappy and The Factor).

It wasn’t easy to get Mystik Dan to California for the first time in the colt’s career. With no flight available, Mystik Dan made a two-day, nearly 1,900-mile trip from the Fair Grounds racetrack in New Orleans by van, McPeek’s assistant trainer and director of operations sharing driving duties. They made an overnight stop at Zia Park racetrack in Hobbs, N.M., and arrived at Santa Anita on the night of Dec. 18.

“He handled it like a champ,” McPeek said of Mystik Dan, whom he describes as “not excitable, just an old soul.”

Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. and McPeek himself planned to take planes and arrive on the morning of the Malibu, which is scheduled for 2:36 p.m. as the eighth of 11 races on a card that starts at 11 a.m.

Mystik Dan drew post 6 for the eight-horse race.

Mystik Dan has been on the sidelines for six months since winning the May 4 Kentucky Derby in a photo finish over Sierra Leone and Forever Young, and finishing second to Seize the Grey in the Preakness and eighth behind Dornoch in the Belmont Stakes. The break was needed after nine races at five tracks — including three wins — in an eight-month span. His 3-furlong, 37-second workout at Santa Anita on Sunday was his ninth work at Keeneland, the Fair Grounds and here since late October.

The Malibu distance doesn’t seem to worry McPeek, who notes that Mystik Dan’s impressive first victory in November 2023 came in a 5 1/2-furlong race.

“Is it tricky?” McPeek said by phone from Louisville, Ky. “Yes. You’re kind of retooling. (But) originally, we almost pigeonholed him as a sprinter. I made a decision to teach him to go longer, to settle himself and rate and then punch. His turn of foot is what won him the Derby, because he’s awful quick.

“Shortening him back up (to a sprint) is a little bit of a different approach, in how you gallop him and how far you work him. So it’s a tough challenge. At the same time, he’s a very good horse and I think he’s perfectly capable of doing it.”

Mystik Dan (5-2 favorite on the morning line) could run well today and still lose. He’ll face the accomplished sprinters Bentornato (3-1), runnerup to Straight No Chaser in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, and Raging Torrent (9-2), 3 for 4 at 7 furlongs after beating The Chosen Vron in the Pat O’Brien Stakes at Del Mar. The Malibu field also features the promising Senior Officer (5-1), Santa Anita Derby winner Stronghold (8-1), and the Bob Baffert-trained trio of Pilot Commander (6-1), Imagination (12-1) and Winterfell (15-1).

Win or lose, McPeek said, “I’m glad it brings a little buzz to Santa Anita.”

Ninety years after the track’s debut on Christmas Day in 1934, Santa Anita presents what could end up being the best overall card of its Classic Meet, which continues through April 6. (Its Hollywood Meet is April 18-June 15.)

The Malibu is one of six graded stakes today. The Grade I La Brea, the fillies’ version of the Malibu, sees the dazzling Accuracy making her stakes debut against Baffert’s Hope Road and Kinza. The Grade II San Gabriel finds California turf-course star Johannes trying to resume his winning streak after a laudable second to More Than Looks in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. And the Grade II race formerly known as the San Antonio is held for the first time as the Laffit Pincay Jr. Stakes in an overdue honor for Santa Anita’s all-time leading jockey.

It could be a difficult season as Santa Anita aims to reverse declines in betting and attendance while adding some cheaper races to try to accommodate Northern California horses displaced by the closure of Golden Gate Fields and the failure of a stand-alone meet at the Pleasanton fairgrounds.

But opening day is good enough for a Kentucky Derby winner.

Now we’ll see if Mystik Dan is good enough to win on opening day.