A not-quite-eventful day for Preakness fave Mage

  • userFrank Vespe
  • dateMay 17, 2023

It could have been – but fortunately was not – an eventful morning for Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness Stakes morning line favorite Mage.

The three-year-old son of Good Magic galloped a little more than 1 ½ miles at 8:30 Wednesday morning, just after the renovation break, continuing the routine that he has followed since settling in at Pimlico over the weekend.

His connections like what they’re seeing.

“It was the same routine since we got here. He looked better, had more energy,” said Gustavo Delgado Jr., trainer Gustavo Delgado’s son and assistant. “He wanted to do more. His exercise rider J.J. Delgado said he’s doing good.”

And Mage himself seemed to indicate that, bucking as he left the track following his gallop and leaving his pony behind. Delgado himself was there to grab him, however, and walked him back to the barn.

“Showing off a little bit,” Delgado described the incident. “Showing off a little bit. It’s about that and just feeling good.”

Prior to Mage’s gallop, a horse on the track divested himself of his rider and ran top speed the wrong way, zipping partway up the stretch and around the far turn before being collared by an outrider. Fortunately, Mage had not yet made his way to the track.

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“My dad was at the track, and he called me,” Delgado remembered. “He said they got a loose horse. Let’s wait until they catch him. Then he called me back and said, ‘We’re good to go.’”

Mage
Mage galloping at Pimlico. Photo by Allison Janezic.

Despite the near-incident, Delgado said he likes the relative calm at Old Hilltop. With most Maryland horses stabled at Laurel Park and only a smattering of trainers left on Pimlico’s backside, there’s not much action on Pimlico’s dirt surface most mornings.

“It’s a pretty quiet track, to be honest. Not too many horses out there at the same time,” he said.

Mage is the 8-5 favorite for Saturday’s 148th running of the Preakness. Only three other horses – First Mission (5-2), Blazing Sevens (6-1), and National Treasure (4-1) – are in single digits.

Ramiro Restrepo, who with the Delgados bought the horse as a two-year-old in training and then sold a portion of their ownership share, wouldn’t trade places with any of those rivals.

“The minute he got to Kentucky from Florida, you could see a change in his attitude, his eating habit and his coat, and he just seemed so much more focused at the task at hand,” Restrepo said. “We just wanted to see all these vital signs continue after giving a mile and a quarter effort. We wanted to be sure everything was still there, that there was no regression, and on the contrary, everything not only remained the same but there was an uptick in those same things.”

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