From the moment Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mage crossed the wire third in the Preakness (G1), the connections had their minds set on the $1.25-million Travers (G1) on August 26 at Saratoga Race Course.
Following a hard-fought second in Saturday's TVG.com Haskell (G1) at Monmouth Park, co-owner Ramiro Restrepo said the 1 1/4-mile Travers remains the primary objective for the Good Magic colt.
Owned in partnership with OGMA Investments, Sterling Racing, and CMNWLTH and trained by Gustavo Delgado, Mage settled in between horses in sixth going down the backstretch of the Haskell while odds-on favorite Arabian Knight controlled the pace. Mage appeared poised for victory at the top of the stretch with Pin Oak Stud's Geaux Rocket Ride also launching a rally. Mage battled gamely in the stretch run, but could not reel in Richard Mandella-trained Geaux Rocket Ride, who won by 1 3/4 lengths.
Mage's Haskell effort garnered a 98 Beyer Speed Figure, and reminded Restrepo of the colt's runner-up effort in the Florida Derby (G1) in April at Gulfstream Park, where he finished one length behind champion 2-year-old male Forte, who is targeting Saturday's $500,000 Jim Dandy (G2) at the Spa.
“Sometimes, you get a win without winning. It gave us a lot of Florida Derby feels, kind of the same mentality,” Restrepo said by phone Sunday morning. “It was an eerily similar run to the Florida Derby, and hats off to Richard Mandella and Pin Oak. They ran a great race yesterday.”
Mage graduated at first asking going seven furlongs on January 28 on Gulfstream Park's Pegasus World Cup undercard. The 3 3/4-length win prompted his connections to try the Fountain of Youth (G2) in March at the South Florida oval where he finished a distant fourth to Forte as well as Kentucky Derby alumnus Rocket Can and Cyclone Mischief en route to the Florida Derby.
Mage took his connections on quite the ride when capturing the 'Run for the Roses' at 15-1 odds. The triumph fulfilled one part of their dreams, with the other part being a triumph in the Travers.
Restrepo said a Travers win would be equally as important to Delgado. The most recent horse to complete the Kentucky Derby-Travers double was Jim Tafel's homebred Street Sense in 2007.
“For us, the horse has been realizing our dreams since Day One,” Restrepo said of Mage. “Everyone in horse racing knows the Kentucky Derby is the holy grail and he got us the win there. That's been a huge dream fulfilled. Gustavo's greatest success other than winning the Kentucky Derby has been winning the (2016) Test (G1) at Saratoga (with 55-1 longshot Paola Queen). He's run up there for multiple summers there with a barn of horses. He loves Saratoga and the Travers is probably his second biggest goal.”
Restrepo, a fifth generation horseman who turns 45 on Travers week, also holds Saratoga in high regard.
“I've only missed three Saratogas in my life. I've hot walked there. I've led horses over to the paddock at Saratoga,” Restrepo recalled. “The Travers is a dream, and having your colors on that canoe in the infield pond is a dream, having your colors painted on the jockey statue is a dream. Sam Herzberg of Sterling Stables is a native New Yorker who loves Saratoga and the CMNWTLH boys [Chase Chamberlin and Brian Doxtator] appreciate the tradition and history of Saratoga. For all of us, the Kentucky Derby and the Travers are our two biggest goals. From the moment he crossed the wire at the Preakness, that was our mindset – how can we get this colt to the Travers?
“Our horse has run in four straight Grade 1s, hit the board in the other three, including an American classic,” Restrepo continued. “The Travers would be his fifth straight Grade 1. It's been four amazing efforts put forth and hopefully the Travers is the fifth.”
Restrepo reported that Mage would likely ship to Delgado's string at Saratoga on Monday.
Bred in Kentucky by Robert Clay's Grandview Equine partnership and raised at historic Runnymede Farm in Paris, Kentucky, Mage is out of the graded stakes-placed Big Brown mare Puca and was bought for $290,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale. He has banked in excess of $2.4 million and boasts a 2-2-1 record from six career starts.
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