After Godolphin celebrated its first Kentucky Oaks with the homebred Into Mischief filly Pretty Mischievous at Churchill Downs on Friday, the stage was set for a series of firsts in Saturday's Kentucky Derby.
When the $15 chance Mage ran down the stubborn Two Phill's in the 149th running of the Run For The Roses, it was a first for his Venezuela-born trainer Gustavo Delgado, a first for Hall Of Fame jockey and fellow countryman Javier Castellano, and a first classic winner from the first crop of Hill 'n' Dale Farms Curlin stallion Good Magic.
Unraced at two, Mage came to the race with just three starts.
Following a maiden win on debut at Gulfstream Park in January, he was fourth in the GrII Fountain of Youth Stakes behind Forte and second to him again in the Gr1 Florida Derby.
The morning line favourite for the Derby, Forte, was scratched on the advice of veterinarians.
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p;In a solidly run Derby, Mage came with a sweeping run to defeat the Hard Spun colt Two Phill's by a length, with the fast-finishing Angel Of Empire (Classic Empire) a half-length back in third.
Javier Castellano broke the ice at his 16th attempt.
"I’m so thankful for the opportunity to ride the horse. The whole team gave me the opportunity to ride this horse in the biggest race in the world,” Castellano said.
Gustavo Delgado Jr., part owner and assistant trainer to his father, said it is a dream come true.
“It’s an amazing feeling. I have my entire family here. It’s such an amazing feeling,” Delgado Jr said.
“Sometimes you have to follow your intuitions, which I did with this horse. Sometimes it pays out and sometimes it doesn’t. It really did today. When I saw him start to make his move, I felt very confident. When Javier started asking I knew he’d sustain it.
“I felt so confident going into this race because my dad was the trainer. And he was telling me step by step what he was doing with the horse. It was a masterpiece.
“I was asking for the wire, asking for the wire. Once he made the lead, it was how we had planned the race to happen. Everything went according to plan. This is the dream I have, a year-and-a-half ago, I wrote a note: ‘We’re going to win the Derby next year.’
Not having the experience, he proved today that it didn’t matter.”
Mage’s sire Good Magic was second in the 2018 Derby to Justify (USA), and grandsire Curlin was third in the 2007 Derby won by Street Sense (USA), with Hard Spun (USA) splitting the pair.
The dam of Mage, Puca, is a stakes-winning daughter of former Vinery shuttler Big Brown (USA), winner of the 2008 Kentucky Derby who shares the record with Mage and Justify (USA), as the Derby winners who had only three prior starts.
A $235,000 Keeneland September yearling, Mage sold for $290,000 at Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale last May and has now banked $1,860,000 from a record of two wins and a second from four starts.
