Tag: gustavo delgado

A Derby-Winning Duo: The Father and Son Team Behind Mage

When Gustavo Delgado Jr. was a young boy, his father would drag him out of bed early every morning to go to the racetrack. Growing up in a household that also included his mother, two sisters and a female cousin, Delgado eventually came to look forward to those trackside adventures spending quality time with his father Gustavo Delgado Sr., a member of the Caribbean Racing Hall of Fame as a three-time winner of Venezuela's equivalent of the Triple Crown.

As a teenager, Delgado Jr. relished the celebrity-like status that came with being the son of a local legend.

“He has always been sort of a superhero for me because he has always been at the top wherever he's been,” explained Delgado. “Everywhere we went, people were always asking for tips, asking who to bet on that weekend, that kind of thing. I grew up with that and I always felt special because that was my dad.”

In 2014, the elder Delgado decided to leave a thriving stable in his home country behind at the age of 60 and pursue a lifelong dream of making it to the top of the game in the U.S. It wasn't long before the Delgado name was well known on the Florida racing circuit.

One year after his father moved to the States, Delgado Jr. made a trip to New York to watch American Pharoah claim the 2015 Triple Crown. Before traveling back home, he made a quick stop in Miami to visit his father. While there, his father pitched him on staying in Florida to be his assistant.

At first, Delgado Jr. was hesitant. When his father left Venezuela, Delgado was left in charge of their home stable and he was excited to be overseeing some nice local horses on his own at the age of 28. But ultimately, he decided to follow his father and the vision he had been painting for his son since childhood.

“Since I was a little kid, he was telling me all the time that we should go and try to win one of those races,” Delgado recalled. “Every time the big Classics came on, we were all watching from Venezuela. He always told me that he didn't have any doubt that if we had the right horse, we could win. So he was kind of selling me his dreams, and I bought them all.”

After the Delgados joined forces in America, their stable continued to flourish. They had their first Grade I winner in the U.S. in 2016 with Paulo Queen (Flatter) in the GI Test S. 2016 GII Mac Diarmida S. victor Grand Tito (Candy Ride {Arg}) and Speed Franco (Declaration of War), who won the 2018 GIII Dania Beach S., also helped them gain recognition early. They went to their first GI Kentucky Derby in 2019 with Bodexpress (Bodemeister), who finished 13th but later became a Grade I winner in the 2020 Clark S.

Leading in a Kentucky Derby winner | Coady

Delgado Jr. said that the father-son pair has always worked well together, but he laughed and gave a wry grin when asked about if they ever run into any training-related disagreements.

“We're best friends more than a relationship between father and son,” he explained. “I always say that I'm his biggest fan. Of course, he's not perfect. He can be stubborn. He's like a Lambo. He can go from zero to 200 miles per hour in five seconds. Me, I'm more quiet and chill. I try to be the guy who makes him more chill. When an employee wants to give us bad news, they always come to me first because they don't want to tell him. I'm like the middle man.”

“He's a genuine guy,” he continued. “I mean, my dad  will tell you straight away what he thinks. A filter? He doesn't use that. But that's a good thing about him. I love that about him.”

So, with decades of familiarity with his father's outspokenness, when Delgado Jr. bought a rather pricey chestnut 2-year-old last year and his father made it known that he was not too keen on the purchase, Delgado did not bat an eye.

“Fun fact, he didn't like the horse the first time he saw him,” Delgado said. “He didn't like him because he's got parrot mouth. 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.'”

That horse, who came to be known as Mage (Good Magic), will be Delgado's forever reminder to trust his instincts. With partner Ramiro Restrepo, he stretched their budget to $290,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Sale to bring home a future GI Kentucky Derby winner.

“Sometimes it's about following your gut, your intuition,” he said. “I loved the horse. We didn't have the money. We had the credit, but not the money. I told Ramiro, 'Listen, this is the horse. We shouldn't be hesitating. This is the horse we're getting and then we'll find out where the money is going to come from.'”

“It played out well,” he added.

At 15-1 odds, Mage brought home a Kentucky Derby victory for the Delgados' OGMA Investments and Ramiro Restrepo, along with Sam Herzberg's Sterling Racing LLC and Brian Doxtator and Chase Chamberlin's Commonwealth. The Delgados' lifelong dream had come to fruition.

Seeing all his family members gathering around for a photo in the winner's circle, Delgado Jr. said, brought back memories of when he was a little boy celebrating big wins with his father back in their home country.

“My mom, my two sisters and my nephews and nieces were here together,” he said. “My nieces and nephews are so little–they are between five and nine years old–and for them to have that kind of experience, I think that was one of the things that I feel most proud of. I know they will never forget being there. When you're so little, that goes through your subconscious. That will stay with you forever. So they will look at my dad like a superhero and maybe me as well.”

All systems are officially 'go' for a trip to Baltimore this weekend, as the Mage team confirmed Friday morning. Delgado Jr.'s confidence in his horse is at an all-time high ahead of next Saturday's GI Preakness S.

“Everything about him special,” he said of Mage. “He's fast and he's got a good mind. He's so quiet. When he's around an environment that might be noisy with people around him, he's so chill about it. [He is able to] go in between horses during the race. He can keep back, he can be in the middle, inside or outside. He doesn't care about anything like that.”

No matter the outcome in the Preakness, or how far their success grows from here, the Delgados will always remember Mage as the horse that made a lifelong dream become a reality.

“It's been overwhelming in a good way,” Delgado Jr. said as he reflected on an unforgettable week. “When you ask what was the purpose of accomplishing something like this, it's about showing people that it can be done. Because the thing is, if you look back on not having the same resources, not having the same tools [as other] people trying to accomplish something like this, it gives you a good perspective that it can be done. This just started with a vision, with a dream. We imagined that we can do it. We didn't know where that horse was coming from or where the money was coming from. We didn't have a plan. We just wanted to do it.”

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Ramiro Restrepo Joins The TDN Writers’ Room

Ramiro Restrepo has done a little bit of everything in the racing industry and now he has something else to add to his resume, GI Kentucky Derby winning owner. Restrepo is one of the owners of Mage (Good Magic), the winner of the 149th Derby. To share his thoughts on the race and what it meant to him, Restrepo joined this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast, presented by Keeneland. He was this week's Green Group Guest of the Week.

“I still can't sleep,” said an emotional Restrepo. “I keep watching the race. I can't believe that we won. We won it. It's incredible. The emotion is totally raw. I haven't really been able to put it behind me. I'm still just soaking it up.”

Restrepo has been there from the start. Along with Gustavo Delgado, Jr, the assistant to his father, Gustavo Delgado, Sr., he picked Mage out at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale 2022, where he was purchased for $290,000. (He sold the prior year as a yearling at Keeneland September for $235,000). From there he was sent to the Delgado barn and made the quick transition from being a first-time-starter on Jan. 28 at Gulfstream to the Kentucky Derby winner.

“We knew we had a talented colt,” Restrepo said. “He had shown flashes of being really fast. But I didn't know anything back in January. And anyone who ever says I knew I was buying a Derby winner when it happened is just doing it for pomp and circumstance. In reality, you always try to buy just a nice horse, whether that means a champion sprinter or a monster turf horse or whatever. You're over the moon with that. But what happened with this horse, it is just like a Hollywood ending.”

The GI Preakness will be next and for Mage, it may only be a matter of holding his form from the Derby. But for a horse who is coming back in two weeks and had only three races to prepare him for the Derby, will that happen?

“That's what makes this such a hard series to compete in,” he said. “And that's what adds to the special mystical flair of the two-week turnaround and of the Triple Crown. You have to deal with the cards that are in front of you. The horse was never really pushed to get ready for his maiden. So it's not like he ran 20 races in the morning. The races are making him, and he is evolving physically and mentally. We keep waiting, much like everybody else, for signs that the races have gotten to him physically or mentally. He's flesh and blood and at some point it's just the natural way of the animal, those things catch up to them.  No one can answer that question, but the horse at the moment came out of the race as good as one could ever ask for. What you have to do is ride the wave and see how long you can ride it.”  .

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by Coolmore,https://lanesend.com/  the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders,  1/st Racing, WinStar Farm, XBTV, Lane's End and https://www.threechimneys.com/ West Point Thoroughbreds, podcast regulars Zoe Cadman, Randy Moss and Bill Finley dealt with the unpleasant aspects of this year's Derby. Seven horses died in the lead up to the race, including two on Derby day. There was an agreement that it was a very difficult couple of days for the sport and that the message sent out by the mainstream press shed racing in a very bad light. Did we have all the answers? Not really. It doesn't seem that anyone does.

Click for the video of the latest podcast or the audio-only version.

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Kentucky Derby Winner Mage Among Those Pointing Towards Preakness

Gustavo Delgado Jr., son of and assistant to trainer Gustavo Delgado, said GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) has shown all the right signs following his victory in Saturday's race and will run in the GI Preakness S. May 20 as long as everything continues to go well. The colt is expected to jog around the racetrack Tuesday morning.

“He ate up everything, his feed, he's feeling good,” Delgado Jr. said.

Forte (Violence), the scratched morning-line favorite from the Derby, galloped at Churchill Downs Monday morning in an apparent preparation towards an anticipated run in the Preakness S., but a statement from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission seems to have left those plans in jeopardy. The release said that after a state vet scratch like Forte's, a horse has a mandatory 14-day period when he cannot race, after which he must work for a state regulatory vet and pass a blood test.

Trainer Larry Rivelli said via text Monday afternoon that GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Two Phil's (Hard Spun) has exited his strong performance Saturday in the first leg of the Triple Crown in good order.

“He's back home and chilling,” reported Rivelli from his home base at Hawthorne Park.

A firm decision has yet to be made regarding a Preakness start.

Another pair yet to make a final call on the Preakness is National Treasure (Quality Road) for Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert and 10th-place Derby finisher Confidence Game (Candy Ride {Arg}) for trainer Keith Desormeaux.

“He's tired, as to be expected,” Desormeaux said Monday morning at Churchill Downs. “He'll go back to the track tomorrow or Wednesday. We'll see how he does walking this afternoon. If he's showing some energy, we'll train tomorrow. If not, we'll wait until Wednesday. We'll make a decision by Sunday whether we're going to Baltimore or not. He'll tell us.

Godolphin's First Mission (Street Sense), winner of Keeneland's GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. in his last start April 15, jogged at Churchill Downs Monday morning also in preparation for the Preakness while resuming training following a five-eighths of a mile workout in 59.80 seconds May 6.

“First Mission is amazing, he looks very good,” said Jorje Abrego, assistant to trainer Brad Cox. “He's ready. He'll gallop (Tuesday).”

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Mage Team Enjoying Derby Win, Eyeing Preakness

The team behind GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) was still savoring the colt's Classic victory on a rainy Sunday morning in Louisville, while taking a wait-and-see approach about a potential start in the May 20 GI Preakness S.

“The horse is looking very good. I checked with the vet, and he's fine,” trainer Gustavo Delgado, Sr. said. “Winning the Kentucky Derby is different than winning the Triple Crown and Simon Bolivar in Venezuela. It's the same but different. It was a very happy experience to win the Kentucky Derby with my son and family here. When we go out there and work every day, every day, every day, it's the best. Winning the Kentucky Derby was the goal. This is a good thing.”

Co-owner Ramiro Restrepo acknowledged how special the victory was for the entire team.

“For all of us, this was a lot of time dedication and sacrifice more than anything from these two boys [Delgado and assistant trainer/co-owner Gustavo Delgado Jr.],” Restrepo said. “This is a game that you lose way more than you win. It's a labor of love. You're just dream chasing. Today is very special for all of us. This is the top of the mountain in this sport for so many. Everyone knows the Kentucky Derby around the world. It's arguably, if not the, top race in the world. We had that dream come true. For one brief second, we can exhale, and look up, and enjoy this moment.”

Mage is likely to remain at Churchill Downs for several days and could return to the track as soon as Tuesday.

Should he line-up in the Preakness, Mage may face a rematch with Forte (Violence), who was scratched with a foot bruise as the morning-line favorite for Saturday's Derby.

Trainer Todd Pletcher termed Forte's foot “good” Sunday morning and said the champion should have a timed workout in the next few days. Forte, who galloped Saturday morning before being withdrawn from the Derby, did not train Sunday but will go back to the track Monday, Pletcher said.

“If he runs in the Preakness, then he'd probably not run in the Belmont,” Pletcher said of Forte's possible next starts. “We'd probably focus on the Travers after that, have a race before in the Jim Dandy or Haskell.”

Forte defeated Mage by one length in the Apr. 1 GI Curlin Florida Derby.

“I think it maybe puts some of the naysayers about the Florida Derby and [that] Forte didn't run a good race…to rest,” Pletcher said of Mage's Derby win justifying the form of the Florida Derby. “But we know he's a special horse: champion 2-year-old, Breeders' Cup Juvenile winner, two-for-two at three.”

Trainer Steve Asmussen saddled Disarm (Gun Runner) to a fourth-place finish in Saturday's Derby. That colt is under consideration for the Preakness, as is stablemate and GII Rebel S. runner-up Red Route One (Gun Runner).

“I was very happy with how Disarm came out of the race, bright and alert and traveling well,” Asmussen said. “He's a tough horse. We thought Disarm ran solid. We wanted a little better result, but he competes well against the best 3-year-olds in the country and we expect him to continue to get better.”

Red Route One, who earned a fees-paid berth in the Preakness by virtue of winning Oaklawn Park's Bath House Row S., worked five furlongs in 1:01.20 (2/8) Sunday at Churchill.

Derby runner-up Two Phil's (Hard Spun) is considered possible for the Preakness, as is 10th-place finisher Confidence Game (Candy Ride {Arg}).

While Brad Cox said it was unlikely any of his four Derby runners would start back in the Preakness, the trainer is expected to be represented in the race by GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. winner First Mission (Street Sense). The dark bay colt worked five furlongs in :59.80 (3/23) at Churchill Saturday.

“Right now, First Mission is our Preakness horse,” Cox said. “I don't know if we'll add any of these horses, but we'll have to make a decision soon. First Mission had a fantastic work yesterday. I'm very happy with what we're seeing.”

Non-Derby horses under consideration for the Preakness include Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo), National Treasure (Quality Raod), Blazing Sevens (Good Magic), Il Miracolo (Gun Runner), Henry Q (Blame), and Instant Coffee (Bolt d'Oro).

Chase the Chaos (Astern {Aus}), who earned an automatic berth in the Preakness for his victory in the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields, is also being considered. Perform (Good Magic), winner of the Federico Tesio at Laurel Park, also has a spot, but would need to be supplemented for $150,000 on entry day to run.

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