A chestnut Good Magic colt with a pronounced parrot mouth lined up in the starting gate to race for the first time on Jan. 28, 2023, and at odds of 11-1 ran off to a fast, decisive, and impressive seven-furlong maiden win. But when Mage’s connections came back five weeks later in the Fountain of Youth, a Grade 2 route race headlined by 2-year-old champion Forte, it felt like a case of too much, too soon. As it happened, it was just enough at just the right time. Mage finished a troubled and encouraging fourth in the Fountain of Youth and was even better in the Grade 1 Curlin Florida Derby, where Forte nipped him after Mage endured the tougher trip. And on the first Saturday in May, Forte standing on the sidelines, Mage sliced through the 15 horses ahead of him halfway through the race and won the 149th Kentucky Derby by two lengths. The victory resonated with Eclipse Award voters and has made Mage a finalist in the 3-year-old male division. :: Full list of 2023 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories The Derby would be the last win of Mage’s career, and the colt was retired with just two victories, but Mage got the one that counted, winning the Derby with authority. Mage’s Venezuela-born trainer, Gustavo Delgado, welcomed Venezuela-born jockey Javier Castellano as Castellano trotted back after the first Derby win of his long career. Castellano gave Mage a perfect ride in the Derby and could do so because Mage had been perfectly prepared. Rather than setting him back, that second-start attempt at the Fountain of Youth had set Mage on a path to rapid development. Delgado’s training methods stood out even more than the aggressive schedule, Mage posting long, slow workouts that typically began at a crawl and hit their crescendo past the finish line. Mage, out of Puca, by Derby-winner Big Brown, was entered and withdrawn from a November 2022 sale as a weanling, then sold as a September yearling for $220,000. The pinhookers who bought him hit a single, not a home run, when Mage sold for $290,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-old breeze-up sale. Mage, owned by CMWLTH, OGMA Investments, Sterling Racing, and Ramiro Restrepo, posted his first official workout in July 2022, before getting on a serious breeze pattern in the fall that led to his January unveiling. :: Bet with the Best! Get FREE All-Access PPs and Weekly Cashback when you wager on DRF Bets. Mage’s second-best performance of the year came in the Grade 1 TVG.com Haskell Stakes, where he returned from a two-month layoff and at the quarter pole ranged alongside eventual winner Geaux Rocket Ride before tiring late to finish second. The race looked like a strong prep for the Travers Stakes – but wasn’t. Mage never really lifted his hooves in the Travers, finishing last of seven in his last start. Two weeks after the Derby, Mage, favored for the only time in his career, could not reproduce his Derby-winning form, finishing third in the Preakness. Walking back to the stables with Mage, assistant trainer Gustavo Delgado Jr. seemed as resigned as he was disappointed at the result. Mage had made four starts in the four months of his racing career and clearly had peaked in the Derby. Regression seemed all but inevitable returning on short rest. Yet Mage’s place in history had been secured. “He won the Derby,” the younger Delgado said. “They can’t take that away from us.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.