“What was my favorite moment of 2023? I'm sure most people would be hard pressed to decide if it was getting engaged or winning the Kentucky Derby. Thankfully I got to experience every moment of the Kentucky Derby with the woman of my dreams AND 382 of my friends. It's a day we'll never forget and for that I'm forever grateful.”

–Chase Chamberlin, Co-Founder & Head of Racing at CMNWLTH, part of ownership group including OGMA Investments, Sterling Racing and Ramiro Restrepo of Mage (Good Magic).

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The group includes: owners OGMA Investments (Gustavo Delgado), Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing (Sam Herzberg) and CMNWLTH (Brian Doxtator and Chase Chamberlain); trainer Gustavo Delgado; and breeder Grandview Equine (Robert Clay). Jockey Javier Castellano is unable to attend due to riding commitments elsewhere. Engraved Oaks trophies will be presented to the connections of Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) after the GIII Pocahontas S.

All guests in attendance on Saturday also will be able to take pictures with the trophies beforehand at The Grove, which is located just inside the Clubhouse and VIP Gates, between 11:30 a.m. and 3 p.m (ET).

Also, Wylie Caudill, Kentucky artist of the recently-released “Official Art of the 150th Kentucky Derby,” will be at the track from 11:30 a.m. to 3:20 p.m. to sign his print.

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Because that's the whole point, really. The big programs would be able to temper their disappointment, on losing the services even of a horse as accomplished as Two Phil's, with the likelihood that an equivalent talent will eventually come along. And it was precisely because the circle of friends who launched Two Phil's towards the top of his crop did so by such accessible investment–he's out of the only Thoroughbred ever purchased by the Sagan family, a $40,000 daughter of a failed stallion–that so many of us identified with their cause. They made us feel we all had a chance.

Two Phil's, moreover, had been progressing from a somewhat sentimental, blue-collar rooting interest to a perfectly credible candidate for what feels an open sophomore championship. He was the only contributor to the GI Kentucky Derby pace that managed to hang tough, and looked better than ever on his first start since in the GIII Ohio Derby last weekend. How maddeningly typical of this game, then, that even in opening up new horizons his owners should suddenly reach a dead end.

They must now regroup, clear their heads and find Two Phil's his best chance at stud. His maternal family contains its challenges, but that is true of a lot of good stallions and something, after all, is demonstrably functioning in his genetic make-up. There is an increasing burden on sons of War Front and Hard Spun to maintain the shortest available connection to their breed-shaping sire Danzig, and Two Phil's certainly bears an auspicious resemblance to his excellent sire. Both proved their adaptability by winning the same Derby trial on a synthetic surface, before proceeding to finish second at Churchill. On the right farm, I'm sure that Two Phil's has every chance of writing a new chapter in the fairytale; and his connections have played their cards too faultlessly to need any help in determining which farm might be the right one.

In the meantime, we must just thank them for introducing this authentic ray of sunshine into our present darkness. As I've noted before, that rogue apostrophe actually became part of what the horse stood for: a symbol of his quirky, aberrational advent among those who set expensive standards at the top of the market. He arrived as a defiant Chicago gesture, many in his entourage having been deprived of their natural habitat–and one of the jewels of the racing planet–by the closure of Arlington Park by the very people who host the Derby.

One of those cast adrift from Arlington was trainer Larry Rivelli, whose prospects of replacing the irreplaceable should at least be enhanced by having drawn national attention to gifts already well familiar on his home circuits. In this bittersweet week, indeed, Rivelli has saddled six winners from nine starters; and these included two “Derby” winners in one weekend, with Act A Fool (Oscar Performance) making it four off the reel in the Hawthorne Derby last Sunday. Hopefully Jareth Loveberry, also integral to the horse's development, will now be able to consolidate, as well, having earned his stripes all the way through from Great Lakes Downs.

Proxy (outside) wins the GII Oaklawn Handicap | Coady Photography

But if some of these guys end up never quite retrieving the same heights, at least they all seized their opportunity when it came. And they would surely choose the shorter ride they took with Two Phil's over the “better” luck experienced by many others, in being able to restore a horse to training after being derailed before the Classics?

It's not as though there's a piece of paper anyone gets to sign, but how would you choose between Two Phil's or a horse like, say, Proxy (Tapit)? Having disappeared for 10 months after trying to get to his own crop's Derby via the Fair Grounds trials, Proxy lines up for the GI Stephen Foster S. on Saturday as a mature horse, with every prospect of building on what for now remains a fairly marginal prizemoney edge over Two Phil's. Since his comeback, he has also availed himself of a Grade I (in the Clark last fall). He's an admirable creature, in a field replete with similar types. But if you were in a crew that might very well only ever have one shot at the big time, would you not be swung by the fact that every Thoroughbred foal, from the moment it slithers into the straw, has one chance–and one chance only–to take you on the walk over for the Derby?

In the winter of 2021-22, certainly, the McPeek barn wasn't dreaming of the 2023 Stephen Foster for Smile Happy (Runhappy) and Rattle N Roll (Connect). The former at least made it to the Derby before his disappearance, but I'm delighted to see him back thriving now. He was bred by the charming Xavier Moreau, from a $57,000 daughter of Pleasant Tap. That was about as much as Xavier had ever spent on a mare, and tragically he lost her almost as soon as Smile Happy had emerged.

That's the thing about this game. Yes, absolutely, your little guys can beat the billionaires by breeding a Smile Happy, or a Two Phil's. But nor will they get any special treatment from Lady Luck, just because all their eggs might be in a single basket.

The only answer is an old one: “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.” If that can be in May, and get you anywhere near that blanket of roses, so much the better.

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Moreover, both Good Magic and the two, star daughters of Dreaming Of Julia are by Curlin, the dual Horse of the Year co-owned by Jackson. And while Good Magic was sold as a $1 million yearling, Stonestreet immediately retrieved a stake and could accordingly celebrate his rise as a racetrack champion and now, in partnership with John Sikura, as an overnight success alongside his sire at Hill 'n' Dale.

It's been a fulfilling experience for all concerned, then, not least Stonestreet's bloodstock adviser John Moynihan–who came on board 18 years ago precisely on the premise that the project would share the same spirit of patient cultivation that had underpinned Jackson's success as a vintner. For just as a long journey divides the planting of a vineyard from the savoring of the wine, so with the sowing of these recent triumphs.

Nowadays, true, no such patience tends to be offered in the commercial judgement of new stallions. If the first sample of grapes don't measure up, they tend to be left to wither on the vine. Yet Good Magic, who had himself confounded the slow-burning Curlin stereotype as a champion juvenile, not only finished second in the freshman championship but is now consolidating with his maturing sophomores. Mage himself, remember, emulated his sire's Derby nemesis Justify in winning the Derby despite not having raced at two.

Mage | ThoroStride

Good Magic broke the mold along with his maiden in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

“Obviously, we'd had a lot of Curlins up to that point,” Moynihan recalls. “And the unique thing about Good Magic was that he was always extremely precocious. A lot of Curlins get better as they mature. But he already looked special at the training center, before we ever sent him to Chad [Brown]. He acted like he was going to be an extremely early horse, to the point where I thought he would start much earlier than he eventually did, in Saratoga.

“So, he was an anomaly that way, but he was also like so many other Curlins that you know will get even better the next year. Had he not run into Justify, we'd have had a Kentucky Derby winner and probably a Preakness winner too.”

To that school of thought, Good Magic has unfinished business at Pimlico on Saturday, in that he probably paid for squaring up so boldly to the Triple Crown winner, just run out of the places in the last strides.

“So, it feels kind of redeeming that he's turning out to be as good a stallion as he has,” Moynihan says. “We obviously bred a lot of nice mares to him, that first crop. And when the foals start hitting the ground, they looked just like he had: medium-sized, precocious-looking horses. And that's how they ran last year, too. But just as he went on to be a very good 3-year-old, so they're now making the same jump. And when a horse does that, in my eyes, they're usually on the road to becoming a very good stallion.”

One neat touch about Good Magic is that he's out of a Glinda the Good, a stakes-winning daughter of Curlin's hard-knocking rival Hard Spun.

“The two horses he kept running against were Street Sense and Hard Spun,” Moynihan reminds us. “And we had a ton of respect for Hard Spun, because he usually set the pace in all those races. Mr. Jackson really wanted to breed to that horse, and Good Magic is the culmination of that. Obviously, we love Curlin and now that he's getting older, to have one of his sons showing so much promise is a huge blessing.”

Glinda the Good's Curlin colt was always so highly regarded that prospectors at the 2016 Keeneland September Sale were advised that the vendors would be eager to retain a significant stake.

“We had put the word out,” confirms Moynihan. “And we talked with Bob Edwards [of E Five Racing] beforehand–we break horses for him at the training center–and said how much we liked the horse and would want to stay in. So, a deal was struck.”

As it happens, Glinda the Good's dam Magical Flash (Miswaki) marginally predates Moynihan's arrival, Jackson having included her among a bunch of mares acquired to support his first stud venture, Saarland. But a rather more focused agenda resulted in Dreaming Of Julia, who has made a remarkable start to her breeding career from just three named foals of racing age.

The first, a daughter of Medaglia d'Oro, was apparently sensational in pre-training but was lost in a starting gate accident. The other two (both, as noted, by Curlin) redressed that tragedy last year as GI Breeders' Cup Distaff winner Malathaat and GII Demoiselle S. scorer Julia Shining.

Dreaming of Julia | Coglianese

Dreaming Of Julia's dam Dream Rush (Wild Rush) had been top of Moynihan's list at Fasig-Tipton in November 2007, having won two Grade I sprints as a sophomore that summer, but the white flag had to be raised at $3.3 million. A couple of years later, however, her purchaser contacted Moynihan and asked whether they were still interested in the mare. Unbelievably, they had just bred her to A.P. Indy–which is just what Stonestreet had planned to do. And the result was Dreaming Of Julia, who won the GI Frizette S.

“You know, Dream Rush had a very light page,” Moynihan admits. “But she could fly. And we thought that if you bred a mare that fast to A.P. Indy, you could get a fast horse, you could also get a Classic horse.”

And from those days onwards, Stonestreet has put a distinctive hallmark on the breed: cycling back to a genetic core, whether cultivated or grafted, while admitting judicious transfusions of external blood and funds. (Malathaat, remember, made $1.05 million as a yearling and Shadwell, another elite program now assisting the family, have chosen Into Mischief for her first cover.)

“Broodmare of the Year felt like a huge accomplishment for us,” Moynihan says. “For an operation such as ours, that takes so much pride in doing things from the ground up, it's the pinnacle. I mean, her mother may have been the fourth or fifth mare that we bought.”

While Stonestreet must also trade, selling 80 to 90 percent of its yearling crop, even to maintain a breed-to-race core demands vision and courage.

“First time I ever met Mr. Jackson, he laid out was what his ambitions were,” Moynihan says. “Breeding to race on any kind of scale was in a massive decline in America. Still is. You just don't have the Mellons, the Phippses, the real sportsmen anymore. But Jess and Barbara had always been creators, in their wine business: they owned the land, they grew the grapes, the whole thing was vertically integrated.”

And that, to Moynihan, was key. He had found subsequent Derby winner Charismatic (Summer Squall) as a weanling for his first big clients, Robert and Beverly Lewis, but they were scaling down with the advancing years. Nor had they been quite so engaged by the breeding side anyway. Thinking on this kind of scale, then, was just what he wanted to hear.

“There's a lot of people out there buying yearlings,” Moynihan remarks. “They buy the yearling, the guy races his horse, they lose track. I've always been part of a program. You buy a weanling or yearling, and you manage that horse through its entire racing life, potentially its breeding life, and you see the fruits of a cyclical process. So, I'm always more interested in building something.”

Stonestreet silks | Coady Photography

As it was, Jackson and Banke brought him out to California, to the vineyards, and he saw for himself that these people would do things properly.

“Mr. Jackson knew, starting off, that we had to work our way up to what he'd call a critical mass of horses,” Moynihan recalls. “He showed me his wine operation, and I saw the best of practices within that, and the scale and the scope of what he did. But it's never just scale. A lot of people in the horse business have been big, but they haven't necessarily been great. But I saw straightaway that here was a person who was extremely passionate; and that a lot of his ideas lined up with the way I'd want to do things. And I thought, 'Well, here's an amazing opportunity to create something really great.'”

By the time he passed, in 2011, Jackson had been party to three consecutive Horse of the Year campaigns: Curlin in 2007 and 2008, and then Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro). But it's this longer harvest that Moynihan feels would most please his late patron.

“He always said that one day we should be in a position where we can potentially produce better horses than we can buy on the marketplace,” he says. “And every year now, when we go to the yearling sales and see what's out there to purchase, a lot of times we end up saying, 'Well, we're not going to buy Hip 354 because we already have two of those.'”

That said, it's important that you also sell elite stock; that the market won't suspect you of holding back the cream. So, while two retained filles, Clairiere (Curlin) and Pauline's Pearl (Tapit), made it to the GI Kentucky Oaks in 2022-and have both since become Grade I winners-they could not beat Malathaat.

“No, you absolutely want that, for the people that buy them,” Moynihan emphasizes. “Apart from anything else, you sell the good ones because they tend to bring the most capital. If you think a yearling like Malathaat can bring a million, well, you know what, that's a lot of money. That's one horse doing a lot to fund the program.”

Obviously, we can't expect Moynihan to share too much methodology, but he plainly views racetrack excellence as evidence of a functional pedigree.

“The foundation here in America is speed,” he says. “And races like the Test and the Prioress, those are so difficult to win.  Winning them made Dream Rush the fastest of her generation. And from what I've experienced, that brilliance a lot of times gets passed down to the offspring.

“A lot of people have bought unraced mares with amazing pedigrees and done extremely well, but for me that's somewhat unfamiliar. I've been much more of a results person. If I see a filly go break her maiden by 10, and something happened with her and there's no stakes on the page, I know she had brilliance and that's what interests me.”

But affinity of pedigree emphatically enters the mating equation–where another vital piece of the armory is Moynihan's familiarity, through scouting the sales so thoroughly, with the trademark traits of every stallion.

John Moynihan, 2020 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November Sale

“We take everything into consideration,” Moynihan says. “Everything. It's like we put it all in a box, shake it up, pour it out, and find what gives us the best chance of producing a great racehorse. When we're doing matings, it's eight hours a day for 20, 30 days, locked in a room. And then you finally think yes, this is really going to work–only to come back and critique it maybe five more times before it gets finalized. A tremendous amount of intellectual property goes into mating a Stonestreet mare. That's not to say that it's always going to come out right. But when it does, with a great physical that we can either run or sell, then you feel like all the hard work has paid off; that the model works.”

It's a long road from the computer science degree taken by a young fellow from Frankfort, with a single strand to draw him into the horse business: Ryan Mahan, senior auctioneer at Keeneland, was a family friend. By stages Moynihan became intrigued, immersed. He read the trade press and figured: “You know what, with the securities business, you don't really have any control. But if you learn this business the right way, potentially you could have control.”

One decisive boon, on graduating to a first job at Fasig-Tipton, was being sent to spend time at Belmont Park. “You can't learn about racehorses at a yearling sale,” he was told. “You need to go to the track, look at the finished product. Go look at the sprinters in the Vanderbilt. Look at the two-turn horses in the Jockey Club Gold Cup. The 2-year-olds in the Spinaway, the Hopeful. Then come back to the unproven marketplace, and see what you should be trying to replicate.”

There was also some cherished mentorship from Johnny Jones at Walmac, before Moynihan landed running in his solo career with Lewis.

“I've been so blessed,” he says. “I've had amazing clients that have stuck with me through thick and thin. Bob gave me freedom to see the big picture. That way I really learned the business of procuring and racing a great colt, and coming full circle by being able to sell him to a stallion farm.”

An exciting new cycle for Stonestreet may have begun in the stunning Keeneland debut of American Rascal–yet another Curlin, and the first foal out of the brilliant Lady Aurelia (Scat Daddy).

“But it's such a finite number of these horses that get to the promised land,” Moynihan reflects. “Today, let's face it, everyone is after three or four stallion prospects [in each crop]. There's just a handful of races you have to win if you're trying to make a stallion. Luckily that's just what Good Magic did. But it's very hard to procure those horses today, because besides needing the racing luck, you're also going up against guys that might be spending $50 million on 120 yearlings.”

Moynihan emphasizes the contribution of Sikura to Good Magic. “He's done an amazing job with our stallions,” Moynihan says. “A lot of people think that we just stand our horses there. That's not the way it evolved. John put up his money and bought these horses, whether it be Charlatan off two races, or Maclean's Music off one.

Maclean's Music | Lee Thomas

“The only reason Maclean's Music is a stallion at all is John Sikura. I think a lot of stallion farms look at a resumé and say, 'Well, yeah, we can make money if we stand him for this fee and get paid out two or three years.' I don't think that's his model. I think he wants brilliance. The horses he has on that farm, they're there for a reason. Right or wrong, he believes in those horses and he's willing to put forth that passion to turn them into successful stallions.”

However big the business might become, then, it's nothing without that human spark. And that, evidently, has been no less essential to the evolution of the Stonestreet program under Banke, in the 12 years since the loss of her husband.

“It was always his passion, but Barbara became extremely interested with a horse called Curlin,” says Moynihan. “And when Mr. Jackson passed away, I think she wanted to continue his dream and see what we could accomplish. All credit to Barbara, if she's in town and we're foaling mares, she's there for the foaling. She's not saying, 'Hey, what kind of foal was it?' She's there. I mean, she really cares.

“When some of these things happen, I think all of us ask ourselves: 'How would he feel today?' And I think he would be over the moon, I really do. Because it's exactly what he set out to do. There are so many wealthy people that buy or breed horses: they're in wine, they're in real estate, they're in auto parts, they're a Sheikh from the Middle East. And a lot of them never have any luck. It doesn't necessarily matter how much money you have. It's how you spend it, and how you manage the horses. And so many of these processes were all Mr. Jackson's vision. I'm sure he looks down today and is very proud of what he created.”

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The whole premise of nostalgia is irretrievability: the yearning for a time or place that can't be revisited. (Very often, perhaps, because it never existed in the first place.) This morbidity is suggested in the Greek stems of the word: nostos, homecoming, and algos, pain or distress. Unfortunately, while the first of these is doomed to remain notional, the second can even be national. It spills over into the here and now, corroding the happiness not just of individuals but whole societies. All round the world, we see populists promising to renew some golden age by restoring lapsed imperial or demographic boundaries.

But that observation obliges me to ask myself whether I'm doing anything so very different, in stubbornly resisting the groundswell towards Triple Crown reform?

With a solitary Kentucky Derby runner deigning to line up for the second leg of the series, for the first time since the current schedule was adopted in 1969, many whose opinions I respect appear to be accepting that there is no longer any point trying to turn back the side. They look at the seven runners in the GI Preakness S. on Saturday, and say the time has come to yield principle to pragmatism.

Well, they may be right. But first, I have a couple of questions. One is exactly where we can find this putative engagement with a disaffected wider public? Is it from having more competitive Triple Crown races, or is it from the romance of the quest itself?

Mage, Pimlico Race Course | Horsephotos

For a long time, during the drought between Affirmed and American Pharoah, we were told (despite several extremely close misses) that the assignment lay beyond the modern Thoroughbred and that we were duly squandering our best chance of engaging fan attention. On that basis, however, the defection of so many rivals clearly only enhances the prospects of Mage (Good Magic) heading to Belmont with a Triple Crown within reach. If that is supposed the grail of publicity, pricelessly combining heritage and accessibility, then does anyone imagine that casual viewers will tune out because the Preakness field lacked triple-figure Beyers?

But maybe the whole premise is wrong anyhow. If the Triple Crown is the best way of stemming our sport's drift from mainstream affections, then how do we assess the impact of the two we have saluted as recently as 2015 and 2018? While unanswerably demonstrating that the current schedule remains perfectly within the competence of the 21st Century Thoroughbred, American Pharoah and Justify hardly reversed the slide. As should be painfully obvious by now, we must address far more serious and challenging deficiencies in the way we present ourselves to a changing world.

Not that we can afford complacency in the audience we already have: the people, that is, who know enough about our arcane world to be dismayed by the lack of both quality and quantity in the field awaiting Mage at Pimlico. When so many indices are spiraling down, retention must be a still bigger priority than expansion. But a Triple Crown extended into July–which, in itself, might well stretch the fickle attention of a casual sports fan–could prove disastrous for other cherished races of high summer, especially now that horses are supposed to need a break before regrouping for a Breeders' Cup prep.

It is, as we know, the trainers who are driving this whole agenda. They have either seen or for some reason decided that horses today cannot soak up the kind of campaign that once allowed breeders a reliable measure of the kind of genetic resources they could aspire to replicate. The incidental benefit of this approach, of course, was precisely the fan engagement we have forfeited in protecting horses not only from competition but also from visibility.

The trainers have given the industry a choice. Either we concede that commercial breeding must be producing a Thoroughbred lacking the physical resources of its predecessors; or we candidly take issue with the trainers, and employ people who will explore the capacity of their charges more thoroughly. In both cases, however, the solution is in our own hands. What we are seeing in the Triple Crown series is a symptom of the problem, not the cause.

If it's about the physical caliber of the horses we are producing, then that obviously ties into another and far more serious challenge. If modern horses can't race twice under the same moon, or even stand up to federal regulation, then surely, we need to address the crazy situation where breeding for the sales ring has somehow become different from breeding a runner.

If it's simply the trainers that are wrong, however, then there are also things we can do about it. And that's not just because D. Wayne Lukas is still doing his thing at 87. I've regularly cited the example of another old master, Jim Bolger, just a couple of years ago running Poetic Flare (Ire) (Dawn Approach {Ire}) in three Classics in 22 days, before winning at Royal Ascot barely three weeks later; and, as often, deplored how only the Japanese could find a place for this horse at stud. But Bolger was also the mentor of Aidan O'Brien, who has himself frequently taken a similar approach. (One of my favorite instances was Peeping Fawn (Danehill). She was placed in a Classic 11 days after breaking her maiden at the fourth attempt; and then ran second in another, over an extra half-mile, five days after that. That experience so damaged her that she proceeded to four Group 1 wins inside eight weeks.)

Good Magic | Sarah Andrew

To me, it looks as though Bolger and O'Brien both believe that a thriving horse has a window of opportunity. And, on that basis, it may actually prove harder to maintain a Derby winner at the same peak for a Belmont in July than with the present calendar.

Most American trainers today evidently disagree. And look, I accept that times change. Mage himself, a horse we hadn't heard of 10 minutes ago, is a Derby winner for our times. He has a different scenario to tackle this time, and shouldn't give a start to one working as briskly as National Treasure (Quality Road). Even in this small field there are some pretty legitimate horses, and it's certainly an incredible achievement for Good Magic's first crop to yield three of seven starters in a Classic.

According to the behavior of trainers, it should be nearly inevitable that a raw colt like Mage regresses from his effort two weeks ago. If he happened to do that, however, it's a fair bet that whichever “mediocre” horse (not my view, I stress) took advantage could still be rewarded with 200 mares at stud next spring. Suffice to say that we have a lot of other stuff to sort out before we start scapegoating an anachronistic Triple Crown.

Good luck to Mage. He has a ton of talent. Who knows? Maybe he will prove the last Triple Crown winner over five weeks–and the last, therefore, who can validly claim parity with the previous 13. And then, when these elusive young fans become as old and grumpy as me, he may even be the stuff of nostalgia.

The post This Side Up: How To Make The Crown Fit Again appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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It was just a couple years prior that he had received one heck of a proposal though and it wasn't something he could pass up. So going all-in, as they say, was the plan. Not to put too fine a point on it, when opportunity knocks or in this case, arrives via Instagram, then you must be ready to parlay.

“It was at the 2022 Dubai World Cup and we had poured everything into the business and we needed a win,” Chamberlin said. “There's a time to be disciplined and just go for base hits, but there's also a moment to be bold.”

The series of conversations that spawned from that Instagram message sent by his fellow Western Michigan alum Brian Doxtator concerned the seed of a new company–Commonwealth, also known as CMNWLTH–which the pair agreed early on was going to be about one thing, and one thing only, the members. Yes, the thrill of victory was involved and all that, but it would be about putting together a series of experiences around microsharing and sports. The engine behind it all and the driving force was a sense of belonging.

“Our model is about the journey,” Chamberlin explained. “This is about sharing a belief because we realize that sports like horse racing are based on faith and if you don't build that through trust, then it is difficult to attract new customers.”

As co-founders, Chamberlin who serves as the company's head of racing and Doxtator, who as CEO comes from a diverse tech background, envisaged a world of microsharing where investors could own an affordable piece of a Thoroughbred. They made some well-documented wise calls, like in that aforementioned Dickensian moment in 2022 when Country Grammar (Tonalist) claimed victory in the G1 Dubai World Cup. Other hinge points have followed with We The People (Constitution) going off as the favorite in the GI Belmont S., and of course, when the 382 members that bought shares in Mage (Good Magic) watched that chestnut colt roll late to pick up the GI Kentucky Derby.

Mage during workout at Pimlico | Jim McCue

“We didn't plan to win the [Kentucky] Derby this soon, but we knew that our program and our partnerships would put us in a position to compete at the highest levels because we have a great team and they know how to pick great horses.”

For Chamberlin, taking a chance on joining Doxtator in starting Commonwealth was full of risk, but he was confident that it was the right move. His competitive nature in business that was honed at college comes directly from the equestrian world. When he was four years old growing up near Kalamazoo, Michigan, his mother who worked in a hair salon and his father in a paper mill, stoked his budding love of horses by enrolling him in riding programs. It took him down a path from hunters and jumpers to becoming a multi-national champion in which he showed horses from half-Arabians to Quarter Horses around the world.

“They didn't have any connection to anything equine-related, but they made sacrifices and that stoked my passion,” he said. “Over time, I encountered all of these different breeds, people connected to them with their wonderful stories and it just created this obsession.”

Then, he started to think about Thoroughbreds.

“I remember always hearing that showing was a hobby that wanted be a business, while racing was a business that always wanted to be a hobby,” Chamberlin said. “I could maybe be away from horses for six months and then I would find a way to get right back to them.”

Melding that love for all things equine with the mission of Commonwealth was linked by Chamberlin's last position as head of growth at Epipheo, a Cincinnati-based company that has assisted the likes of Walmart, Google, SAP and even the U.S. Air Force with brand awareness campaigns through what is called a video-first strategy. In other words, they explain stuff, succinctly and in a way that is palatable.

“Strategies through these explainer videos were built on education and we know through research that if you confuse people, you'll lose them,” he said. “So, you want members to soak up these complicated ideas because if they don't care, then the moment's gone. It's the old curse of knowledge. What we are doing with horse racing and Commonwealth is similar.”

Chase Chamberlin and Brian Doxtator at Pimlico during Preakness Week | Sara Gordon

Working with bloodstock agents like Marette Farrell, and WinStar Farm's Elliott Walden and David Hanley has brought Chamberlin to the immersive waters of the sales ring and he has learned the language of Thoroughbreds. From breeding to racing, it continues to be an ongoing curve for him. There is a fair amount of torque that he has experienced, but the “vernacular” as he calls it, isn't that far off from the one he once knew.

“David [Hanley] was an Olympic-level show jumper, so when we talk horse flesh we have a certain understanding between us and that has only helped my education, which is all about being a sponge,” Chamberlin said. “This complex and dizzying world has brought us into contact with some amazing partners who are about integrity first and then talent, not the other way around.”

No matter what happens this weekend at the GI Preakness S., Commonwealth has wind in its sails. But Chamberlin is quick to remind anyone that will listen that this isn't just about victories. You can't have win after win in a business like this, no matter how blessed or brilliant you might be.

“Our focus here is to spread the word and not be drained by these moments of euphoria because we know they don't last in the way that our minds think they should,” he said. “So, what you do as a company is be grateful for them, relish it, file it away, but you can temper the downswing you will inevitably feel, if you enjoy that journey along the way.”

Finding the next Mage will not be easy, but remember Chamberlin's origin story as an equestrian, his sponge-like approach to knowledge and his ability to explain complexities are all built assets. As horse racing continues to try and solve their own Rubik's Cube when it comes to bringing new, younger faces into its fold, in just four years has Chase Chamberlin and Team Commonwealth found an answer?

With the sports betting revolution drawing in more diverse customers, in a similar way, Commonwealth is poised to expand their digital platform space into golf. The future looks bright for this unique business model. Affordable investing through a set of experiences which crossover to other sports? That sounds like quite a parlay coupled with a strong sense of belonging. Now, that might be an explainer video worth watching.

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“He trained all right this morning,” said Confidence Game's trainer, Keith Desormeaux.

The colt was last seen finishing 10th in the GI Kentucky Derby.

“He's just not 100%. He's got something aggravating him in the right front shoulder area. We're going to send him to Dr. [Larry] Bramlage [at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital] and let him do full diagnostics and let him advise us on how to proceed. He's good, but he's not Preakness perfect.”

After he was scratched from Saturday's Long Branch S. at Monmouth, Coffeewithchris's connections alerted Pimlico officials Saturday morning that the Maryland bred is being pointed toward a Preakness start. Jaime Rodriguez, who has been aboard for the gelding's last five starts including a win in Laurel's Heft S., will have the mount in the second jewel in the Triple Crown.

“Our plan was to run in the Preakness,” said trainer John Salzman Jr. “We were hoping to win the [Federico] Tesio [5th last time out Apr. 15]. The biggest thing is coming up with the money sometimes. I'm a poor working guy. Thirty thousand is a lot of money. I looked at the Long Branch. It wasn't an easy spot. If it was an easy spot, I might have gone on to the Long Branch. I worked it out to come up with the funds to take a chance. I don't get to take a chance very often.”

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“Every year, 20,000 foals are born,” reflects Anthony Sagan. “And only 20 make it to the Derby. But not only did we make it, we were a length off winning it. We almost pulled it off, almost shocked the world.”

Sagan's father Phillip is one of the two octogenarian namesakes in the entourage who prompted the naming of Two Phil's (Hard Spun), that consoling sunbeam through the black clouds that had gathered over our sport last Saturday.

Even the 20 who drew a gate for the GI Kentucky Derby had not yet finally confounded the odds. No fewer than five were withdrawn between declaration and post time, three substitutes completing a field of 18. But Two Phil's, bred from the only Thoroughbred the Sagan family ever bought and ignored by every expert in the first session of the Keeneland September Sale, not only showed that he belonged. He actually took command turning into the stretch, and saw off every challenger bar Mage (Good Magic).

Second place, so near and yet so far, notoriously invites mixed feelings. But the Two Phil's team are still buzzing from an unforgettable day, even if it's only human to dwell on the bittersweet sense that Two Phil's touched, but could not quite grasp, the hem of turf history.

“Yes, we were happy and sad all in the same moment,” Sagan admits. “We were so proud of the horse and what he's accomplished. And we were sad because we just almost did it-and the odds of us getting ever back to there are… Well, it's like winning the lottery, will be in the billions. So many people try to get to the Derby every year, so many big-time owners and sheikhs and billionaires. And a little guy like us, we almost pulled it off.”

Mage and Two Phil's | Coady Photography

There had been corresponding support for the team all week, on the backside, and above all during the coveted “walkover” with Two Phil's, and the 17 others elected by fate, from the barns to the paddock. Being relative novices–the Sagans had previously only dabbled in a few Standardbreds–they were taken aback by the emotional intensity of that ritual.

“We didn't even realize that it was such a big deal, and what it entailed,” Sagan acknowledges. “It was an incredible experience; I can't even describe it. People along the rail, yelling and cheering and high-fiving us, screaming for Two Phil's: 'Let's go!' I'd never seen anything like this in my life. We didn't know how many fans the horse had out there. I think he'd kind of become a fan favorite, kind of the hard-working, blue-collar horse.”

He was also a Chicago horse, in spirit at least. His trainer Larry Rivelli won every Arlington training title from 2014 until the track's heartbreaking closure in 2021 by the same corporation that now provided the stage for this fairytale. Co-owner Vince Foglia of Patricia's Hope LLC, meanwhile, had been leading owner there since 2015. And Jareth Loveberry, who started out round a “five-eighths bull-ring” at Great Lakes Downs 18 years ago, had won its last two riding titles. Cast adrift from Arlington, here they were coming ashore with a horse that asked no favors and gave no quarter.

Poignantly, the Sagan family had spent their harness days at another doomed Illinois circuit, Maywood Park. In dipping their toe into the Thoroughbred world, however, they gave $40,000 for an unraced 3-year-old filly by a failed stallion, General Quarters. She had been recommended by two seasoned horsemen, Jerry La Sala and Gene Lotti, and their judgement was vindicated when Mia Torri became a dual stakes winner and twice finished second in graded stakes.

At this point they reached the first of many junctions, many roads not taken, on the winding road that ultimately led to last Saturday.

“The smart move would have been to sell her,” Sagan concedes. “At one point, we were being offered $300,000–plus for Mia Torri as a broodmare prospect. But she always had a special meaning to us. We'd named her after my grandma. And I always had a gut instinct, even when she got hurt and had to retire, that she could be something more. Horses like this don't come around very often. If you take the money, and then go out and buy some others, what are the chances you'll find one as good as this? The odds are way against you.”

It didn't look as though the gamble would pay off after Mia Torri lost her first foal, but she went back to Hard Spun for her second cover. This priceless conduit to the great Danzig had been picked out for the Thoroughbred rookies by Steve Leving, another stalwart of the Chicago racing scene. (Indeed, he would eventually re-enter the saga as Loveberry's agent.) Hard Spun was tough, classy, versatile, and fairly priced-and he also complemented the mare physically.

“Fortunately, the foal got the father's body and frame,” Sagan recalls. “Mia Torri's well put together, but she's not a really big, powerful-looking mare. But right from when he was born, he also got his mom's head: her demeanor, her attitude, her mental fortitude.”

The colt was foaled, raised and broken by Elise Handler at Spruceton Farm, Kentucky: yet another instance, in this story, of someone seizing a rare opportunity and reaching the highest standards. Handler got him through some of the usual baby issues and by the time the Keeneland inspectors came, they wanted to put him into Book I of the September Sale. But here was another twist in the road.

“Because with his pedigree he probably didn't probably belong in that first book,” Sagan says. “These people were experts, they knew what they were doing, and obviously saw something they liked in him. But placing him where they did probably kept us involved in the horse. Because if he'd been in Book III, we would probably have sold for $100,000.”

As it was, Hip 62 didn't meet his reserve at $150,000. They tried again, at OBS the following spring, and Jimmy Gladwell has since told Sagan that the colt had outworked all his other charges that winter. But he didn't sparkle in his breeze and it was clear that he would fall through the market cracks.

“You know what?” Gladwell said. “He's better than this. Take him home.”

With the fathers of Sagan and La Sala both sharing the same name, the colt was registered as Two Phil's and entered training with Rivelli, whose main patron Foglia also bought into the horse.  (Latterly, the horse having put himself in the Derby picture, Madaket Stables came in for a piece too.) And the rest is history: Two Phil's emulated Hard Spun by winning the race now known as the GIII Jeff Ruby S., before finishing second in the big one.

Two Phil's | Coady Photography

The Turfway race also produced Rich Strike (Keen Ice) to stun everyone in the Derby last year, but Two Phil's arrived with far wider belief behind him–not least after taking to the track so well in the GIII Street Sense S. last fall. So, while the whole team was cognizant of their privilege simply in securing a Derby gate, they weren't just in town for the ride.

“Just qualifying for the race, yes, that was a major accomplishment for this horse,” Sagan says. “But we believed that we had a real chance to win. I got there on Monday, because I knew that this was a once-in-a-lifetime shot and wanted to take it all in. And every morning on the backstretch people came up, wanted to take pictures and talk.”

A big Chicago crew assembled on raceday: Sagan's sisters, his nieces and nephews, a bunch of cousins and friends. And of course, Foglia had a lot of people with him, too, as did Rivelli. It felt like they had a long afternoon ahead, hanging out, walking around, soaking it up. The two Phils, characters both, did a spot on NBC. And before they knew it, it was time for the walkover.

Then a media group not only trained a camera on Sagan but hooked him up with a microphone and even a heart monitor.

“They said they wanted to share the experience of an owner watching the Derby,” Sagan recalls. “I said, 'Guys, I might swear a little bit!' They said not to worry, they'd get rid of that. But if we won, this would be all over the world news. My dad was down on the rail, but he couldn't even pick his head up. He was so nervous, he wouldn't watch it. He wanted to win for my mom. She just passed in December, she loved the horse, and would have been so proud to be a part of this. So, it was emotional for all of us.”

That heart monitor must have melted when Loveberry pounced from his stalking position.

“When he took the lead in the stretch, it really felt like we were going to win the Derby,” Sagan says. “I knew this horse has a huge heart, how hard he tries every time. Every other horse that had been near the front, they all finished 14, 25, 50 lengths back. But Two Phil's kicked on and got beat a length. The race he ran wins the Derby, like, nine out of 10 years. He ran a phenomenal race but hats off to Mage, we just came up short.”

Though Rivelli has decided to sit out the GI Preakness S., Two Phil's has put himself firmly in the elite of the crop and promises all kinds of excitement in the second half of the campaign. Meanwhile he has also brightened the future for his dam, who was bred back to Omaha Beach this spring. The Spendthrift stallion is already sire of her 2-year-old colt, apparently very handsome but just held up by a minor issue as a $32,000 RNA at Fasig-Tipton's Kentucky October Sale. He is in pre-training with Gladwell, while a yearling colt by McKinzie is being prepared for a likely appearance at the September Sale.

Sagan pays warm tribute to the way everyone involved, from farm to racetrack, has contributed to the development of Two Phil's.

“We're family-oriented people,” he says. “We try to stay with family businesses, and we're loyal. Everyone did a great job and we're happy that they got on the radar with Two Phil's. These horses don't come around too often, so it's pretty special for all of us. Jareth gave him a great ride. He saw the hole, he went for it, and almost pulled off an amazing upset. And with Larry, the horse always comes first. He gets them the best treatments, the best vitamins, the best feed. And he's got a great team.”

Team Two Phil's at Derby Draw | Coady Photography

After a fairly harrowing week for our community, this horse can help to keep the faith in the game's redemptive potential-if only we can do our bit right.

“Listen, I know there's a lot of black eyes around Thoroughbred racing right now,” Sagan accepts. “And these big tracks like Churchill make so much money, they should be doing everything they can to make conditions as safe as possible.

“But yes, horse racing needs these stories to keep the game going. How about Cody's Wish? That's another feel-good story. Some of these horses have a lot of meaning to people. We need to put that out there, make people realize that this game is not just about money and fame. Guys like us are a perfect example. This was sport, a hobby, something we love. Sure, it's awesome to succeed. But it wasn't our goal to make money. That's almost impossible to do. We managed to pull it off, but the horse did it, not us. He does all the work, and he deserves all the credit.”

Sagan is little too modest here. He's a poker player, after all, and has always been a gambler. And it took a risk-taker's instinct to keep his family aboard for this thrilling adventure. It would have been a more prudent option, no doubt, to take the money for Mia Torri; and not to persevere with her son when repeatedly rejected at market.

“But if you've got a good product, you stick with it, and that's what we did,” Sagan says. “We did feel this mare was going to be special. But yes, it's like a fairy story. You have one horse, you breed her, and you almost win the Derby. I remember the day he was born. Elise sent me a picture. It was an awesome thing, like, wow. But never in our wildest dreams could we imagine that any of this could happen.”

Hence the connection people demonstrated with the horse, making that Derby walkover: here was living, breathing, hard-running proof that everybody has some kind of chance.

“In the betting line, he was not a longshot,” Sagan notes. “He was 9-1, actually the fourth choice. But the story of this horse is what makes him a longshot. How he was bred, where he came from, and all the things that happened to him along the way. He was the underdog.

“Everyone on the backside was saying how good it was to see a new face get to this spot in the game. Mostly it's Pletcher, Cox, Baffert, the same guys with three or four horses every year, and the same ownership groups. Nothing against any of them. They put a lot of money into the game, and deserve any success they get. But it's good that a small-time guy with one horse can get to the Derby. It gives hope to other people that play this game. It shows that anything's possible.”

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“After evaluating the colt upon my arrival, I feel that he has not been able to reach the peak fitness required to take on a race as tough as the Kentucky Derby,” Yahagi said. “Considering the future of the horse and the fact that we cannot show the horse's true ability in his current state, we have decided to scratch Continuar from the Kentucky Derby. I am very sorry that I cannot participate in the world's number one horse racing festival, however I sincerely hope to return to the Derby in the future. I want to thank everyone who has supported Continuar and Yahagi Stable on this journey.”

Continuar qualified for the Kentucky Derby through the Japan Road to the Kentucky Derby point series where he received an invitation to compete in the first leg of the Triple Crown. With this defection, Brereton Jones and Naber Racing's King Russell (Creative Cause), trained by Ron Moquett, will draw into the field and break from the outside post 20. The program number 23 will remain the same. King Russell will be ridden by Rafael Bejarano.

“You can't help but feel for the ones that scratch,” Moquett said by phone, when asked about the news that his horse had drawn in. “This is an opportunity for the team, our owners and we have been here all week preparing just like King Russell was already entered. We know he is special horse and like Babe Ruth calling his shot, I predicted that he would finish in the top three in the Arkansas Derby and that he would be in the [Kentucky] Derby. Here we are. After the training, pointing him here, galloping, schooling, we are going to see if he can get the mile and a quarter. I've been here before with Far Right in 2015 and that following year with Whitmore, and now it is time to get down to business because we are wanting to do more.”

Scratch time for Kentucky Derby 149 is Friday at 9 a.m. ET.

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The entry portal closes at 11:00 a.m. E.T. this Saturday, May 6. Players should keep track of their answers as you will not be able to revisit the survey portal once you submit your entry. Should a horse named directly in a prop be scratched, all answers to that prop may be counted as correct.

Winners will be notified by email late on Saturday evening to identify how to direct charitable donations. The top finishers will get to direct $20,000 in donations to four racing charities, which are: Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs, New Vocations, Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund and Second Stride. Click here, for more information.

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