Mage could be success symbol for Latinos at the Preakness
It’s a scene that plays out with equal enthusiasm every year. The owner, trainer and jockey of the Kentucky Derby winner are greeted by the governor, hold a trophy aloft, thank a lot people that made it possible and then thank one another, yet again.
But sometimes the sameness of the moment gets interrupted by a small gesture, one that might even border on cliché. After Mage won this year’s Kentucky Derby, jockey Javier Castellano pulled out a yellow, blue and red flag with eight white stars in a semicircle. It was the flag of Venezuela.
This moment, lost on many, might turn out to be a watershed moment for the Latino community. It was the first time in more than 50 years the Kentucky Derby winning jockey, trainer and owner were all Latino. In 1971, Cañonero II won both the Derby and Preakness Stakes for owner Pedro Batista, trainer Juan Arias and jockey Gustavo Avila.
Mage is hoping to duplicate that feat Saturday when he runs in the 148th Preakness Stakes.
It is not unusual to see a Latino jockey celebrating a victory. Terry Meyocks, president and chief executive of the jockeys’ guild and Castellano’s father-in-law, said there are no available statistics but guessed “over 80 per cent” of his members are Latino.
The Venezuelan flag also was waving for trainer Gustavo Delgado and assistant trainer Gustavo Delgado Jr. Latino trainers have found some success in the U.S., the most famous being Laz Barrera, who won the Triple Crown with Affirmed in 1978.
There are no statistics as to the number of Latino owners in racing but Ramiro Restrepo, a fifth-generation horse person whose family comes from Colombia, has a sense.
“If you compare those traditional racehorse owners to those of an ethnic background, you’re definitely outnumbered,” Restrepo said.
It’s very common to hear some dialect of Spanish being spoken on the backside of a racetrack. Most Anglo trainers speak at least a rudimentary form of Spanish so they can communicate with their grooms, hot-walkers and exercise riders, all overwhelmingly Latino.
“I believe (this moment with Mage) is absolute validation about what I think a lot of people have known, that Latinos — like a lot of other cultures — are natural horsemen,” said Oscar Gonzales, vice chair of the California Horse Racing Board.
Gonzales, born into a family of horse people, spent time as a groom and hot-walker before venturing into business where he rose to U.S. assistant secretary of Agriculture.
“The connections deserve a lot of credit,” Gonzales said. “I don’t even think they are quite aware of the ground they are breaking for future generations. Other than there being a Venezuelan flag that they are waving proudly, I don’t think they understand the kind of impact they are having on the sport of kings.”
Delgado, 66, has spent a lifetime in racing but mostly in Venezuela, where he won their version of the Triple Crown two times. In 2014, he came to the U.S. to try to win one of the classic races.
Delgado laterals most interviews to his son and assistant, Gustavo Delgado Jr., and Restrepo because he is uncomfortable speaking in English.
“I remember when I was a kid, because when he was successful down in Venezuela,” Delgado Jr. said after the Derby, “he would always tell me, ‘One day, we should go to the States and win one of those races.’ ”
That day was May 6, 2023. Saturday we’ll find out whether the horse can do it again, and the community that is uplifted by his success.