Mage to run in Preakness
2-week turnaround for Derby winner doesn’t worry trainer
Kentucky Derby champion Mage is headed to Baltimore to run in the Preakness Stakes on May 20.
“We’re very excited; he’s had a magnificent week of training,” Mage’s co-owner, Ramiro Restrepo told reporters in Kentucky on Friday morning. “[Trainer] Gustavo [Delgado] is just really pleased and over the moon with how he’s come back.
“He’s shown all the positive signs, so it’s on to Baltimore and crab cakes. Here we come.”
Mage charged from near the back of the pack to pass Two Phil’s down the stretch and win last Saturday’s Derby as a 15-1 shot. He became just the second horse since 1882 to win the first jewel of the Triple Crown series after not running as a 2-year-old.
Given the cautious approach they had taken to the beginning of Mage’s career, Delgado and his son, Gustavo Delgado Jr., said they would take a similarly careful approach to deciding whether to run in the Preakness.
They said the two-week turnaround from Derby to Preakness would be a significant challenge for their colt, who had never run on less than four weeks’ rest. But they were pleased enough with Mage’s form when he returned to jogging and galloping over the track at Churchill Down to indicate a trip to Baltimore was likely.
The Derby champion sealed the decision with another energetic workout Friday morning and will make the journey from Louisville on Saturday.
Mage’s arrival will be a relief to Preakness organizers and fans of the Triple Crown series, whose spirits were doused last May when Rich Strike, an 80-1 winner in the Derby, did not make the trip to Pimlico Race Course. He was the first Derby winner to skip the Preakness for nonmedical reasons since 1985, and his absence prompted renewed debate over the Triple Crown calendar, which many trainers and analysts say is out of step with the work habits of modern thoroughbreds.
With Mage set to face a Preakness field packed with fresher contenders, that discussion, pitting traditionalists against those who say three Triple Crown races in five weeks no longer makes sense, will likely go on the shelf for another year.
The Delgados and Restrepo downplayed the difficulty of the schedule on a Thursday conference call with reporters, noting that Delgado frequently raced horses on two weeks’ rest in his native Venezuela.
Now they will try to prove their North American star is up to the task.