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The Educational Parlay Of Chase Chamberlin

Chase Chamberlin scrutinized the numbers. It was a Dickensian moment to be sure. The bank account didn't lie, he did in fact have a $120 balance. There wasn't any way around it, he was broke. Well, nearly broke.

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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Preakness Preview: Mage Evolves From Underdog To Target

Onward to Baltimore! Here are the GI Preakness S. entrants listed in “likeliest winner” order.

1) Mage
GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage won't be a heavy favorite on Saturday. In fact, he projects as the possible second choice in the betting based on the “fresh competition” angle in a Preakness that will feature no other starters who ran in the 18-horse Derby.

Pari-mutuel value notwithstanding, a Preakness victory is within the grasp of this white-blazed, chestnut son of Good Magic ($235,000 KEESEP; $290,000 EASMAY). He's a lighter-framed colt who might not have taken the pounding that a bigger runner would have in a demanding race like the Derby. And in the eight-horse Preakness, he figures to be more in touch with the pace, and will likely not have to give up as much real estate (four wide on the far turn before floating to the eight path) as he did in the Derby.

We've now seen Mage uncork two consecutive, sustained, late-race bids against Grade I competition. One was a slightly premature move in the GI Curlin Florida Derby that catapulted him to the lead, only to be reeled in by the vastly more experienced divisional champ Forte (Violence). The other was a more measured move under Javier Castellano in the Kentucky Derby in which Mage went from 11th to second between the five-sixteenths and the three-sixteenths poles before zeroing in on a tiring (but not quitting) leader while being kept to task under hand-hustling though the final furlong and a half.

Mage's 105 Beyer Speed Figure stands out as at least seven points better than any number his rivals have run so far, but it remains to be seen whether that rating holds up. It was 11 points higher than Mage's previous best, and to fully embrace it, you have to have faith that the 2-3-4 finishers in the Derby also realistically upped their Beyers by 4-10-10 points.

2) National Treasure
The draw of post one, the addition of blinkers, and the continued partnership with one of the game's premier front-end riders all point to John Velazquez seeking the lead in the Preakness with National Treasure.

This $500,000 FTSAUG son of Quality Road sports a past-performance block anchored by mid-90s Beyers and company lines featuring heavy divisional hitters. But there are also some gaps in his training, most notably time missed in early March because of a quarter crack that caused this colt to pass on an expected start in the GII San Felipe S.

Although he wasn't finishing with the authority of the top trio in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby, National Treasure's fourth-place effort there can serve as a useful bridge to a better effort at 1 3/16 miles considering the nine-furlong try was his first race in three months.

Trainer Bob Baffert has saddled seven Preakness winners. Five of them were Kentucky Derby winners. The two who weren't both were beaten Derby favorites: Point Given (2001) and Lookin At Lucky (2010).

National Treasure | Jim McCue

3) First Mission
This Godolphin homebred by Street Sense debuted too late to make a run at Derby qualifying points, so after breaking his maiden at Fair Grounds in start number two on Mar. 18, his connections opted for the 1 1/16-miles GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. at Keeneland.

First Mission went off favored at 2-1, rolling out of the gate alertly, then conceding the lead while attaining inside position. He started to inch up 4 1/2 furlongs out over a short-stretch configuration, then reeled in an opening-up pacemaker who twice put him in tight at the fence through the stretch.

First Mission prevailed by half a length (98 Beyer), but it was the visual appeal of how he refused to be by intimidated by the more experienced Arabian Lion (Justify) that contributed to this colt being bet down to the 6-1 second choice in the Preakness future wager.

On Saturday you can get a better read on the Lexington S. by seeing how 2-5 morning line fave Arabian Lion runs in Pimlico's fourth race, the $100,000 Sir Barton S.

4) Perform
Perform required six starts to break his maiden, but since tasked with two turns for the first time, he's 2-for-2. This $230,000 KEESEP colt by Good Magic has also tangled with Mage once before, having run fourth, beaten 5 1/2 lengths by the eventual Derby winner, when that colt broke his maiden at Gulfstream back on Jan. 28.

Perform broke through with his first victory on the GIII Tampa Bay Derby undercard over one mile 40 yards, and both the second- and fifth-place finishers from that race came back to graduate in their next starts.

Let go at 10-1 odds in the $125,000 Federico Tesio S., Perform dropped out to last and looked unlikely to even hit the board on the far turn, lingering near last after a dueling duo had set a tepid pace and opened up by five turning for home.

Weaving through the pack, jockey Feargal Lynch switched Perform off heels of tiring rivals not once, but three times through the Laurel homestretch, at the three-sixteenth pole, the eighth pole, and again in the run up to the wire. The result was a head victory, and although the 85 Beyer came back a little light, this could be an example of “how he did it” resonating more than “how fast” in terms of overall impression.

“I hope we're finishing with Mage and can outkick him,” said Hall-of-Fame trainer Shug McGaughey. “But I think that just the two turns on the dirt, the distance, the mile and three-sixteenths, the timing is pretty good. We've got plenty of time in between races. He had a good work here last Sunday with Lynch on him, and that's what made up my mind that, along with his owners, to say, 'Let's give it a chance.'”

Red Route One | Jim McCue

5) Red Route One
Red Route One has stamped himself as a capable one-run closer from far back. That means he's going to be picking off horses late, but how many runners he passes in the stretch is largely going to be at the mercy of the pace. The faster they go up front, the better the finish for this Winchell Thoroughbreds homebred.

By Gun Runner out of a Tapit mare (same cross as stablemate and 'TDN Rising Star' Disarm, who was fourth in the Derby), the potential for later development has always figured in Red Route One's progress. Recall that his sire ran third in the 2016 Derby, finished on the board in a series of graded stakes into the summer and fall, but didn't truly burst onto the scene until after the Breeders' Cup, when he won the GI Clark H., and then seven of his eight final races against top-class competition.

Red Route One has run respectably over firm and good turf, plus sloppy and fast dirt, so he handles various types of footing quite well. He went 7 1/2 months between his first and second lifetime victories, but closed with abandon to score in the $200,000 Bath House Row S. at Oaklawn, which was the Plan B option after failing to make the qualifying points cut for the Derby.

6) Blazing Sevens
Blazing Sevens ($140,000 KEEJAN; $225,000 FTSAUG), the third son of Good Magic entered in this Preakness field of eight, is the real handicapping conundrum among the trio. He hasn't won since the Oct. 1 GI Champagne S., yet his last two efforts have a “can't be as bad as they look” vibe about them.

Through his first five career tries, Blazing Sevens won twice and was beaten by champ Forte the other three times. Racing for the first time since the Breeders' Cup in the GII Fountain of Youth S., this colt got pinballed early and was never a factor, finishing eighth while beaten 26 lengths.

Stretched to nine furlongs in the Apr. 8 GI Toyota Blue Grass S., Blazing Sevens ran a so-so third, with the impression of that result blunted by the arresting stretch battle of the two dominant horses who finished six lengths ahead of him.

Blazing Sevens qualified for the Derby based on points, but was withdrawn by trainer Chad Brown to instead aim for the Preakness. Those skip-the-Derby tactics worked well for Brown in 2017 and 2022, when he won Baltimore's big race after opting out of Louisville with Cloud Computing and Early Voting, respectively.

Bettors who had a nose for that trend sniffed out 21-1 odds in the Preakness future wager, which is significantly higher than the 6-1 morning line ranking for Blazing Sevens.

Blazing Sevens | Jim McCue

7) Chase the Chaos
Chase the Chaos (Astern {Aus}) started his career in Minnesota, winning at Canterbury on the grass before running credibly over Tapeta at Golden Gate Fields in early winter.

One of his two wins there, in the Feb. 11 El Camino Real Derby (lifetime best 82 Beyer), gave him an automatic berth into the Preakness. But this $10,000 KEENOV gelding has been seventh and eighth in two starts since then.

He was outgunned in his only lifetime try over fast dirt in the Mar. 4 GII San Felipe S. at Santa Anita, then was the beaten 5-2 fave when returning to Golden Gate for the Apr. 29 California Derby.

8) Coffeewithchris
The Preakness is always a little more interesting with a Maryland-bred long shot in the mix, and Coffeewithchris fits the bill as this year's local hopeful after having sold for $2,000 as an EASOCT yearling.

This gelding has been steadily competing in the series of sophomore stakes on the Maryland circuit, and he most recently raced to the front in the moderate-paced $125,000 Federico Tesio S., where he held well under pressure until upper stretch before regressing to fifth.

But they'll be going a bit quicker in the Preakness, and the 88-85-82 downward arc of the last three Beyers for Coffeewithchris doesn't bode well for his chances.

His sire, Ride on Curlin, finished second in the 2014 Preakness at 10-1 odds behind California Chrome. He competed in all three Triple Crown races (7th, 2nd, 11th), yet concluded his 22-race career never having won beyond six furlongs.

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The Week in Review: Betting on Good Karma to Overcome Bad Headlines

Next week at this time, we'll know if the sport is on the cusp of another Triple Crown sweep. Of all the potential excuses for GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) not emerging victorious from the GI Preakness S., intense media pressure is unlikely to be one of them.

You could make the argument that the diminutive, white-blazed chestnut with the endearing overbite has enjoyed one of the least-scrutinized post-Derby weeks of any winner in recent history. That's not so much because the spotlight on his accomplishment has dimmed. It has to do with overlapping waves of chaos commandeering the game like a searing mint julep hangover that won't go away.

Colleague Bill Finley wrote in this space last week about the seven horse deaths at Churchill Downs that overshadowed Mage's Derby score. That was followed a few days later by proponents and opponents of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) sparring in federal court, where the highlighting of racing's recent, grim headlines to prove points underscored a nasty turn in a two-year-old lawsuit that has no end in sight.

Additionally, Mage was eclipsed in the news by the colt who was favored to beat him, but had to scratch on the morning of the Derby with a foot bruise. That would be the 2-year-old champ Forte (Violence), who on May 9 was revealed to have failed a drug test at Saratoga last September, with the public kept in the dark the entire eight months afterward until the scoop was leaked to the New York Times.

Two days later, on May 11, Forte was disqualified from the GI Hopeful S. on the basis of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication positive. The case is under appeal, with the only certainty being that it, too, is likely to linger in the courts for a long, long time.

The same day as word of Forte's DQ broke, the connections of last year's underdog Derby upsetter, Rich Strike (Keen Ice), also got dragged into the headlines for a cringe-worthy cameo. The issue had nothing to do with the colt's 0-for-6 record since winning the first leg of the 2022 Triple Crown.

Rather, trainer Eric Reed informed owner Rick Dawson (via text) that he was resigning after the two failed to come to an agreement over–Are you ready for this?–a proposed movie deal. Reed's version of events is that he stepped away after Dawson gave him an ultimatum to either drop the project or get fired. Dawson's take is that he was being kept out of the loop on negotiations and that “things were done behind my back.”

Will “Richie” still be destined for the big screen? Destined for prolonged litigation seems more like it.

And finally, even though it managed not to percolate to the top of the news cycle last week, trainer Bob Baffert and Churchill Downs, Inc., were still trading court filings in Baffert's federal civil rights lawsuit against the gaming company that controls the nation's most important horse race. Yes, Baffert's two-year banishment from the Derby has come and gone, but the lawyering is far from done and the legal fight grinds on.

Separately, we still don't know the outcome of the appeal of Medina Spirit's betamethasone DQ from the 2021 Derby, which is what sparked both Baffert's ruling-off and the lawsuit. That's because the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission still hasn't adjudicated the appeal, 743 days after the test sample was drawn.

Bottom line? All this attention being deflected away from Mage lets him coast into Baltimore further under the radar than most Derby winners. Theoretically, that's great for the colt. For the sport as a whole, it's embarrassing.

The last four Derbies have all been dysfunctional to some degree. An inexplicable 80-1 winner was 2022's oddity. The in-limbo drug DQ appeal of Medina Spirit still clouds the 2021 Derby. The 2020 pandemic necessitated that year's Derby be run in September instead of May. In 2019, it was the DQ of first-across-the-line Maximum Security for in-race interference, the only demotion of a Derby winner for an in-race foul, and it too sparked a failed federal lawsuit.

Mage's trainer, Gustavo Delgado, had a peripheral role in that controversial 2019 Derby. He saddled the 71-1 Bodexpress, who, just like Mage, set sail for Louisville after running second in the GI Florida Derby.

The difference was that Bodexpress went into the Kentucky Derby while still a maiden. Nevertheless, he showed grit by pressing the pace and holding a forward position against far more seasoned horses before tiring and then dramatically checking out of action in the far-turn scrum that resulted in Maximum Security's DQ.

Delgado, who had saddled multiple Classics-level stakes winners in his native Venezuela prior to trying his luck with a stable in America in 2014, wheeled Bodexpress right back two weeks later, giving him his first starter in the Preakness. The colt went off at 20-1, but dislodged jockey John Velazquez at the start and careened around the track riderless before being safely corralled.

Because of his antics, Bodexpress became a social media sensation and something of a fan favorite. After a five-month freshening, he broke his maiden in Florida and subsequently won two allowance races.

In 2020, Bodexpress scored at 11-1 odds in the GI Clark S. at Churchill to cap off his racing career, while giving Delgado his second Grade I winner in the United States. That turn of events signaled better Triple Crown karma might eventually be in Delgado's pipeline.

The trainer's son and assistant, Gustavo Delgado, Jr., told TDN's Katie Petrunyak on Friday that his father initially scoffed at the $290,000 purchase of Mage at EASMAY last spring.

“He didn't like him because he's got parrot mouth,” Delgado, Jr., said. “I remember he looked at me and said, 'The next time you are buying a horse, send me a video first and don't buy a parrot mouth.' But I told him, 'Trust me, this guy can run.'”

Talk about looking a gift horse in the mouth.

Mage fits the profile of a Derby winner who might not be fancied as the favorite in the Preakness, where he'll face a wave of fresh competition. But he's now uncorked big moves on the far turn in two straight Grade I races, and as a light-framed colt, his way of going doesn't seem to impose the type of pounding that would be detrimental to firing right back in two weeks.

On Saturday, we'll find out if Mage can spare the sport a little of his upbeat mojo. Right now the game could use a touch of his no-drama, all-business vibe.

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Mage Rounds Out Training at Churchill, Departs for Pimlico

Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) posted his final training move at Churchill Downs Saturday morning prior to shipping to Baltimore for next weekend's GI Preakness S. While the task was ultimately completed safely, the move didn't quite go off without a hitch.

Rider J.J. Delgado was forced to pause his training to fix a back bandage that came loose after the first half-mile, however, the colt ultimately galloped about 1 1/2 miles.

Following the minor mishap, the Derby winner continued on his way around the racetrack before he returned to Barn 42 where trainer Gustavo Delgado prepared to ship the colt to Baltimore late Saturday afternoon.

“We always wanted to be more cautious before making the decision whether to run in the Preakness after the Derby,” co-owner/assistant trainer Gustavo Delgado Jr. said Saturday. “It was fair to ask the question. We just wanted to make sure he was giving us all the right signs following the Derby and he is. The fact that he only has four starts and young horses tend to get better after they get a few starts under them, it gives us a bit of confidence.”

The van that will transport Mage to Baltimore was expected to depart around 4 p.m., according to Steve Hargrave, Churchill Downs' Senior Director of the Stable Area. The trip is more than 600 miles and usually takes 8 hours and 45 minutes.

Delgado has only started one horse in the Preakness. In 2019, Delgado ran Bodexpress in the second jewel of racing's Triple Crown where he unseated jockey John Velazquez leaving the gate.

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