Mage | Horse Racing Free Tips

Mage Decision On Haskell Coming Tuesday

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.–A decision will be announced Tuesday on whether Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic) will run in the GI Haskell S. July 22 or train up to the GI Travers S. Aug. 26, co-owner Ramiro Restrepo said Friday.

Mage was given a break from training by trainer Gustavo Delgado after his third-place finish in the GI Preakness S. May 20. He had his fourth timed work Friday–six furlongs in 1:13.40–at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, Ky.

“Gustavo just wants to watch the horse until Tuesday,” Restrepo said. “There is no injury. No setback. Nothing negative. We just want to make sure that he is ready to go against horses like Tapit Trice (Tapit) and Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo). There are some serious horses in the Haskell. We want to make sure he makes a good account of himself. The horse has to say to us, 'I'm good.'”

The summer goal for the colt has been the historic $1.25 million GI Travers S. at Saratoga Race Course. Delgado and Mage's connections have been considering whether to have him make his first start back in the Haskell or the GII Jim Dandy at Saratoga July 29. They have focused on the Haskell in recent days, Restrepo said, because it is five weeks before the Travers. However, Delgado may elect to send Mage to Saratoga to train and skip a prep.

Mage did not race as a 2-year-old and has made five starts this year. He broke his maiden Jan. 28 at Gulfstream and finished fourth in the GII Fountain of Youth S. March 4. He secured his Kentucky Derby qualifying points with a second in the GI Florida Derby April 1 and delivered in the Derby at odds of 15-1.

Delgado did not immediately commit to run in the Preakness two weeks after the Derby, but did decide to try him in the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown. He promptly was sent off to a vacation after the Preakness.

“The break did him wonders,” Restrepo said. “That's what caught our attention. You're so focused from the Derby to the Preakness, there's such a small window, you're really trying to make sure he makes it into the Preakness well, and there's no hiccups that you don't have a chance to step back and kind of view a bigger picture.”

Restrepo said that after being away from the colt for a few weeks, it was apparent that Mage benefitted from what he called a mini off-season.

“We all come back and we're like, 'Whoa. He's put on muscle. He's put on weight. He's matured,'” he said. “You could see it in his bones, in his body. It's crazy how that time off helped him kind of refill his gas tank. It was a wonderful break for him.”

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Saratoga Set for 155th Season of Racing

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y–Nothing new at old Saratoga this summer. As has been the case for many decades, most of racing's stars will be in town for America's most important Thoroughbred meet of the year.

The first race of the 40 days of the 155th season opens at 1:10 p.m. Thursday with a 10-race program at Saratoga Race Course. By the time the meeting reaches its conclusion on Labor Day, Sept. 4, over 400 races, including 71 stakes worth $20.8 million, will have been run. The traditional opening-day feature is the $175,000 GIII Schuylerville S. for 2-year-old fillies.

Godolphin's Cody's Wish (Curlin), quite likely the most popular horse in the country, leads the deep lineup of standouts expected to compete at Saratoga this summer. That group includes 2022 Eclipse Award winners Forte (Violence), Nest (Curlin), Elite Power (Curlin) and Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper), all of whom won over the track during their championship seasons. Unbeaten Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) is on course for the GI Test on the Whitney Day program on Aug. 5.

Todd Pletcher, the 14-time leading trainer at Saratoga, said that Forte will prep for the GI Travers in the GII Jim Dandy on July 29, but the decision has not been made on whether Tapit Trice (Tapit) will run in the GI Haskell on July 23 at Monmouth Park or the Jim Dandy. He said his grass star Up to the Mark (Not This Time) is likely to run in the GI Arlington Million at Colonial Downs, Suburban S. winner Charge It (Tapit) is a candidate for GI Whitney S. on Aug. 5 and that Far Bridge (English Channel) will follow his Belmont Derby score with a start in the GI Saratoga Derby Invitational of Aug. 5.

Cody's Wish, the winner of six straight and nine of his last 10 starts for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott, is on course for the $1 million Whitney. It will be a distance test for GI Met Mile winner; he was third in his lone try at 1 1/8 miles in 2021 at Saratoga.

Todd Pletcher will have all of his stars at Saratoga | Sarah K. Andrew

Three years after the Saratoga season was conducted without fans because of the Covid-19 pandemic and following last year's record-setting summer with remarkable weather, this Saratoga meet appears ready to settle into the familiar groove with the focus fixed squarely on the equine talent. It's business as usual at the Spa.

“I think you always think about Saratoga that way,” said Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. “The COVID year was certainly strange, because it was the first time I'd ever seen empty stalls here because some people were unable to attend. But, aside from that, I think you always come into Saratoga expecting to see the best horses in the Midwest and the East Coast and we'll probably get some California shippers. It's that time of the year when you expect to see top-class horses, running in all the big races.”

This will be the 10th season that Jason Fitch and his brothers Adam and Patrick, have operated Kings Tavern, a fixture on Union Avenue across from the main entrances to Saratoga Race Course. Jason Fitch said that in the past few weeks the track has awakened from its annual slumber.

“The vibe is hard to describe. It's because it's kind of like COVID never happened,” he said. “It's like, everything's back to normal. Everybody's happy. Everyone's excited.”

Kings has a solid year-round local clientele and Fitch said with some out-of-town track customers already making their first visits of 2023, one season flows into the next.

“It kind of felt like the track ended like yesterday,” he said. “For me, personally, it feels like, just yesterday was Labor Day.”

During the racing season Kings opens early: at 9 a.m. on Saturdays and 10 a.m., Wednesday-Friday and on Sunday.

In recent years, the New York Racing Association has unveiled a series of capital projects on the grounds. Last year, the rebuilt Wilson Chute enabled NYRA to add one-mile dirt races to its lineup. This year, the most notable addition is very important–the backstretch healthcare clinic building–but not something that the average racegoer would be aware of.

Saratoga's patrons will notice a change of admission pricing and the move to an all-access ticket. NYRA announced in March that daily tickets purchased at least 24 hours in advance will cost $7 and the day-of-the-event price is $10. Since 2019, a grandstand ticket cost $7 and clubhouse entry was $10. The new approach will allow all visitors to go into the clubhouse. General admission on Travers Day will be $30, but $25 in advance.

Some of the bigger names in sport will compete early in the meet. In Italian (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) trained by Chad Brown will go after her second-straight win in the GI Diana Saturday and Clairiere (Curlin) will try to repeat in the GII Shuvee on July 23 against Nest, who will be making her 2023 debut.

Nest showed that she was of championship caliber last summer with GI wins in the Coaching Club American Oaks and the Alabama. Pletcher said that the Shuvee run is intended to set her up for the GI Personal Ensign on Aug. 25.

“We wanted to get started a little earlier,” Pletcher said. “Unfortunately, she got sick when she first came in and we basically missed a month. It took a little while, to get her well enough to get her back into training. Our original plan was to either run at Keeneland or Churchill and then the Ogden Phipps. It's just unfortunate that set us back to the point where she is just now getting ready.”

The Saratoga season features important off-track events, too. The Jockey Club's annual Round Table will be conducted on Thursday, Aug. 3, the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame will induct its newest members on Aug. 4 and the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale of select yearlings will take place on Aug. 7-8.

Pletcher and Chad Brown have been the kingpins on the trainer's table for 12 consecutive years and it's a very safe bet that they will be vying for the title once again. Brown has won the last two and five of the last seven. Defending champ Irad Ortiz Jr. has won the jockey's competition four times.

2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage | Horsephotos

Though the $1.25 million Travers, first run in 1864, is always the marquee race of the season, it could be a crucial test to determine the 3-year-old male title following a spring in which three different horses won the Triple Crown races. That trio, GI Kentucky Derby winner Mage (Good Magic), GI Preakness S. winner National Treasure (Quality Road) and G1 Belmont S. champ Arcangelo (Arrogate), may meet in the Travers on Aug. 26. If that happens, it will be an oddity: just the fourth time in history and first since 2017. Arcangelo is already based at Saratoga and being pointed to the Travers. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert has not announced which horses he will run at Saratoga–in his return to the track after missing 2022 due to a ban imposed by the New York Racing Association–but on Monday did not rule out National Treasure for the Travers. He said that recent Los Alamitos Derby winner Reincarnate (Good Magic) is a Travers possibility.

Mage was given a break following his third-place finish in the Preakness on May 20 and resumed training in June. After his next scheduled breeze Friday at The Thoroughbred Center a decision will be made on whether he will make his next start in the Haskell or the Jim Dandy.

“It's a special moment, for sure,” said Mage's co-owner Ramiro Restrepo. “To have all the classic winners in one spot it's lovely for the fans and lovely for the horse players. Like any athlete or representative of an athlete, you want to run against the best and compete against the best and hopefully put forth a good effort. For ourselves, as a collective, our lifelong dreams have been the Kentucky Derby and the Travers. Our dreams are those two races. It's been an incredible ride to have accomplished one and to have a decent shot to accomplish the second one would be, it's really the stuff of dreams. The Travers is our end-all, be-all. That's what we're focusing on.”

Cody's Wish | Sarah K. Andrew

Cody's Wish is a very talented 5-year-old with a distinctive backstory. He is named for Cody Dorman, of Richmond, Kentucky who was born with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome. As a result of the syndrome, Dorman uses a wheelchair and communicates with a tablet. They met in 2018 during a Make-A-Wish Foundation visit to Gainsborough Farm. The young foal interacted with Dorman and laid his head on the boy's lap, which led to his naming.

Mott's always-strong barn is especially heavy with headliners this year with Cody's Wish, Sprint champion Elite Power, and War Like Goddess (English Channel) in the lineup.

Once a seasonal visitor to Saratoga, Mott has a large part of his stable based at Saratoga for most of the warm weather months. He said he looks forward to the meet.

“It's fun. It's exciting to be a trainer here,” he said. “It's fun when there's enthusiasm around. We enjoy it.”

In the late 1950s, Saratogians feared that NYRA, then a new organization, might drop Saratoga, which was far less popular than the meets at Belmont Park and Aqueduct Racetrack. In 1957, the state legislature passed a bill guaranteeing Saratoga a 24-day season without competition at the downstate tracks. By the 1970s, Saratoga's stature had risen again and it is the most significant meeting on the NYRA calendar. Benefitting from warm, dry weather last summer, NYRA lost just 16 grass races–compared to 45 in 2021–and registered a record all-sources handle of $878,211,963, a jump of 7.7% from the previous year. Excluding fan-free 2020, NYRA reported its seventh-straight season of one million in paid attendance.

In a well-timed announcement on Monday, the Saratoga County Industrial Development Agency said a new report it commissioned showed that the meet at Saratoga Race Course generates $371 million in economic activity and more than 2,900 jobs in the Capital Region.

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Two Phil’s Likely Finished For 2023 With Ankle Injury

MGSW and GI Kentucky Derby runner up Two Phil's (Hard Spun) exited his win in Saturday's GIII Ohio Derby at Thistledown with an ankle injury and is unlikely to race again in 2023. The Daily Racing Form was first to report the news. He was being transported to Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, where he'll undergo further evaluation and is expected to be operated on by Dr. Larry Bramlage said trainer Larry Rivelli.

Rivelli added that Two Phil's showed no sign of injury until Sunday morning, when pressure was detected in his right front ankle.

“It probably puts him out for the rest of the year,” Rivelli said. “We're sick.”

Rivelli said stallion farms have shown interest in acquiring Two Phil's, and it's not out of the question that the colt won't run again.

“He doesn't owe us anything. In my experience, they aren't usually the same horse after something like this. We don't know the extent of it all yet. The amount of time off he'll need still is to be determined,” Rivelli said.

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The Week In Review: The Legend Of ‘Red’-Trainer Saddles Winner At Age 96

Trainer Robert “Red” McKenzie doesn't get much ink south of the border here in the States, but he is a living legend on the western Canada racing circuit. With practically zero fanfare or notice, McKenzie added to his impressive list of lifetime accomplishments Friday night when he saddled Entitled Star (Roi Charmant), a 10-year-old mare he owns, to a 25-1 upset victory in a $4,000 claimer in the second race at Century Mile in Edmonton.

The win was significant because McKenzie is 96 years old.

The feat could very well be a record in Canada. It's shy, however, of what is anecdotally credited as the North American record for oldest trainer to win a Thoroughbred race. That honor goes to Jerry Bozzo, who saddled a winner on Oct. 11, 2018, at Gulfstream Park West, just two weeks before his 98th birthday. Bozzo died one month after winning that final race.

The prior record belonged to trainer Noble Threewitt, who visited the Santa Anita winner's circle about two months after celebrating his 95th birthday in 2006. He died in 2010 at age 99.

Entitled Star, who sports a robust 13-for-80 lifetime mark, was ridden by apprentice jockey Meagan Fraser. The two have a connection: Entitled Star was responsible for giving Fraser her first career win last September at Century Mile.

McKenzie has started two horses for a combined five starts this year, and the victory was his first of the season. Equibase credits him with 623 lifetime victories, but that database only goes back to 1976, when McKenzie was closing in on age 50 and already had four successful decades of horsemanship under his belt. Numerous published reports credit him with at least 1,000 more victories dating back to the 1940s.

An October 2022 profile by Curtis Stock in Canadian Thoroughbred noted that McKenzie is up at 5:30 a.m. every morning and “still pedals his bicycle around the Century Mile backstretch, acting like a guy half his age.”

McKenzie started getting on horses in 1937 at age 10 at an Edmonton riding academy. By 13 he had his first bush-track mounts on what was then known as western Canada's long-since-defunct “B” circuit of small-town half-milers and county fairs. By 17, he was the B circuit's leading jockey with 87 victories, scoring in stakes like the Red Deer Derby (twice) and Rimbey Derby.

With a knack for winning races in bunches while tacking just 93 pounds, McKenzie soon graduated to the “A” tracks of the old Western Canada Association. But young Red's body began sprouting faster than his career, and he outgrew riding after 300 wins as a jockey. Not wanting to go through the rigors of reducing, he turned to training, which he had already begun learning to do long before he got his license.

McKenzie cultivated a winning touch with everything from 2-year-olds to older horses, from claimers to stakes, gaining an advantage by shoeing his own trainees. Over the decades he won the Canadian, Saskatchewan, and Alberta Derbies, and although he sometimes ventured to the higher-profile Toronto tracks or occasionally to Northern California or New York with the right horse, western Canada was his home. His best horse was Grandin Park, an Alberta-bred who campaigned from 1972 through 1980, amassing a 29-17-14 record from 116 starts.

TDN could not reach McKenzie prior to deadline for this story to ask his thoughts on winning a race at age 96.

But 15 years ago, when McKenzie was 81, he told Horse Racing Alberta in a video interview, “Age is just a number. If you've got nothin' to do, you'll get old awful fast. Horses can keep you young, I think.”

Geaux Rocket Ride | Benoit Photo

On the western horizon…

With the reported injury to Two Phil's (Hard Spun), let's not forget the talent in the sophomore division currently parked out west. Three horses who had to be withdrawn from Kentucky Derby consideration because of fevers earlier in the spring are at various stages in getting back on track.

Geaux Rocket Ride (Candy Ride {Arg}) won the Affirmed S. at Santa Anita back on June 4. He's being aimed for the Haskell.

Skinner (Curlin), who was third in the GI Santa Anita Derby, will reportedly contest the July 8 Los Alamitos Derby.

Practical Move (Practical Joke), who beat both Geaux Rocket Ride and Skinner at Santa Anita, has yet to post a published workout since being scratched two days before the Derby.

There's also early-season phenom and 2-for-2 'TDN Rising Star' Arabian Knight (Uncle Mo), who is unraced since winning the Jan. 28 GIII Southwest S. He also appears Haskell-bound, with five published works since May 29 at Santa Anita, the last two of them bullet moves.

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