Ramiro Restrepo remembers the first time he ever visited Gulfstream Park as a young boy and the thrill of having his picture taken in the winner's circle. The Miami native is hoping to repeat the experience Saturday, only on a much grander scale.
Along with OGMA Investments, Sterling Racing and CMNWLTH, Restrepo is one of four partners in Mage, who will make just his third career start and second straight in a stakes in the $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa.
“I'm sure if you were to interview any four of us, we'll have our own individual story as to what this means for us. For myself, I'm raised here in Miami. This is home. I've been coming to this track since 1989 when they allowed children to come here. I took the first winner's circle that they allowed children to take pictures in,” Restrepo said. “To say that you have involvement in a horse that's running in a race of this caliber, the history, the winners in the past, to have your name in the program and have a horse that can hit the board or maybe hit a miracle win – it's the greatest feeling of all time.”
A son of 2017 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) winner Good Magic and grandson of Hall of Famer Curlin and 2008 Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1) winner Big Brown, Mage fetched $290,000 last May during Fasig-Tipton's 2-year-olds in training sale at the Maryland State Fairgrounds in Timonium. Restrepo attended the sale with trainer Gustavo Delgado, who races as OGMA Investments.
“I think the first thing that caught our attention was his similarities to his sire, Good Magic. They're like clones, down to the markings on the face and legs,” Restrepo said. “His muscles and his balance, he was just like in his sire and grandsire Curlin. Those similarities were so striking. His demeanor, his presence, his class just stood out to the both of us. And it was pretty unanimous right then and there that we had to go get him.
“When we were bidding on the horse, we got to what we had allotted for him and normally myself I'm pushing for more and your client or the owners are telling you to hold up,” he added. “I was ready to stop bidding and Gustavo was the one who almost cracked me three times left handed and made me keep bidding. In my mind I kept thinking, 'How are we going to pay for this thing?' and luckily with his pressure we kept bidding and we were lucky enough to get the colt.”
Mage didn't debut until Jan. 28 at Gulfstream, rolling to a front-running 3 ¾-length maiden special weight triumph sprinting seven furlongs. He stepped immediately into the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth (G2) March 4, racing up near the leaders throughout and staying on to be fourth behind Forte, Holy Bull (G3) winner Rocket Can and Cyclone Mischief. Forte, the 2-year-old champion of 2022, and Cyclone Mischief also return in the Florida Derby.
“We could have gone to the Blue Grass or even held off until the Lexington. The fact that it's his home court, it's his backyard [was a factor],” Restrepo said. “It's five minutes to the paddock from here. All those factors of just being close to home and the familiarity – his two races were over the home track and those were the biggest factors in keep him here.”
Luis Saez has the mount on Mage for the first time, breaking from Post 4 in a field of 12. They are rated at 10-1 on the morning line.
“To be honest with you, we've had a magnifying glass out looking for a reason not to run, whether it's to give him all the time in the world to recover,” Restrepo said. “[For] a young horse running in a big race, you think he's going to come out of it a little sour, a little tired, maybe lose some weight and lose some energy. On the contrary, it feels like he's grown. He's filled out, he's muscled out, he's put on wight. Even his appetite, he's asking for more food. He's eating every last oat.
“I know these are things people use as cliches, but in reality the whole team has been watching every move that he's made and the colt has done nothing but ask for this race himself. It's just the logical next step at the moment,” he added. “We're not necessarily thinking anything further than this race. It's one race at a time. You never know what may come of this but there's no end goal at the moment. We're not pointing to the Kentucky Derby or Preakness or anything. The next logical step for the colt at the moment was the Florida Derby. Here we are, excited to get it going.”
The presence of 2-year-old champion and powerful Fountain of Youth (G2) winner Forte in Saturday's $1 million Curlin Florida Derby (G1) presented by Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa didn't scare off everyone, least of all Dale Romans.
Romans will continue his quest for a first Florida Derby victory and earn more points toward a berth in the May 6 Kentucky Derby (G1) with Albaugh Family Stables and Castleton Lyons' Cyclone Mischief.
The Florida Derby offers a total of 200 Derby points to the top five finishers on a 100-40-30-20-10 basis. Cyclone Mischief currently ranks 36th on the leaderboard with 15 points for the Derby, limited to 20 horses.
“I am excited. It's always good to be in the Derby picture and on the Derby trail, especially here at Gulfstream Park,” Romans said. “You've got to be in it to win it, that's my theory. If you've got a horse doing good and you like your horse and you're on the Derby trail, just keep going.”
Romans has trained a pair of Florida Derby runners-up, Sharp Humor in 2006 and eventual Preakness (G1) winner Shackleford in 2011. Shackleford is one of 45 starters in the Florida Derby's 71-year history that have gone on to win a remarkable 58 Triple Crown races.
“You can go back in history and look at all the good horses that have come out of South Florida to go on and run in the Derby and run in the Triple Crown races. I think this is always the toughest spot,” Romans said. “Bob [Baffert]'s got his horses in California, and nobody can beat him. Fair Grounds and Arkansas horses are nice horses, but I just feel like Gulfstream is the epicenter of winter racing and has all the best horses. Of course, we've got to beat the champion this week if we're going to win.
“We come down here to run against the best horse in the world because of this weather. If you look at horses that come out of Gulfstream Park, it just does something for them to come down here. Just like it does people,” he added. “You come down here to spend the winter in the warm weather burning calories just trying to stay warm, you're not walking on frozen racetracks and big open-aired barns. I really think that this is the perfect place to be to winter your horse.”
After finishing a dull seventh when asked to rate in the Feb. 4 Holy Bull (G3), Romans was thrilled with the way Cyclone Mischief bounced back in the Fountain of Youth a month later. He set the pace along the rail and took a half-length lead into the stretch but was unable to hold off Forte's late run and wound up third beaten 5 ¾ lengths, 1 ¼ lengths behind Holy Bull winner Rocket Can.
Romans will give similar front-running instructions to Hall of Famer Javier Castellano, aboard for the first time. They will break from Post 9 of 12 with morning-line odds of 8-1.
“I think, same thing. Let him break. If somebody wants to go to the lead, let them go, but just don't take a hold of him and wrangle him back and try to make him do something he doesn't want to do,” Romans said. “I think he resented that in his only real bad effort that he's run. He bounced back off of it free-running, and we'll do it again.”
The Florida Derby will be the seventh start for Cyclone Mischief, who has two wins and two thirds on his resume including a 5 ¾-length optional claiming allowance victory going one mile Jan. 8 at Gulfstream in his sophomore debut.
“This is more races than I've ever put into a horse trying to get to the Kentucky Derby. He's just a big tank and he can handle it,” Romans said. “I think that will help him when we finally get there. He's an April 30 foal so he's still young. He's really just now coming to himself. We haven't seen the best of him.
“The whole game is built on getting to the Kentucky Derby and win that. Right now, we're all in get-there mode. I'd like to think the champion is going bounce maybe this week. He's coming back on his second start off short rest and he ran big effort first time out. It might be wishful thinking. He was ultra-impressive, I thought, the other day. But, hey, we don't duck one horse,” he added. “If we run second or third, we'll go on to the Derby. A lot of strange things happen there as we've seen over the years.”
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