Mage Breezes At Gulfstream For 2023 Kentucky Derby; Florida Derby Runner-Up Ships To Kentucky Sunday

The 2023 Florida Derby (G1) runner-up Mage breezed six furlongs in 1:14.78 Saturday morning at Gulfstream Park while prepping for a scheduled start in the May 5 Kentucky Derby.

The lightly-raced son of Good Magic, trained by Gustavo Delgado and owned by OGMA Investments, LLC, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing LLC and CMNWLTH, galloped out a mile.

“He worked good. We liked what we saw. Everything is going to plan, Thank God,” said assistant trainer Gustavo Delgado Jr.

A jockey has yet to be named to ride Mage in the Derby.

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Mage, a $290,000 purchase at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds-in-Training sale, is scheduled to ship Sunday to Churchill Downs to finish his preparation for a run in the Kentucky Derby.

“We just want him to get to know the track. We don’t expect to do very much there, fitness-wise,” Delgado Jr. said. “He should be ready after this work. Every day is crucial. We’ll take it day by day, but we like the position we’re in right now.”

Making only his third career start in the Florida Derby, Mage made a sweeping move from 12^th to take the lead at the top of the stretch to get the jump on heavily favored Forte, but the Todd Pletcher trainee kicked into overdrive in stretch to pull out the victory by a length.

Mage turned in an eye-catching debut at Gulfstream Jan. 28 while romping to a 3 ¾-length victory in a seven-furlong maiden special weight race. He subsequently showed a lot of grit while finishing fourth behind Forte in the Fountain of Youth (G2), in which he experienced gate trouble, bumping and a wide trip.

Mage, who collected 40 points for his runner-up Florida Derby finish and 10 points for his game effort in the Fountain of Youth, sits 16^th on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard, assuring the Kentucky-bred colt a stall in the starting gate for the first leg of the 2023 Triple Crown at Churchill Downs.