Mage ( foaled April 18, 2020) is an American

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

racehorse Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

who won the

2023 Kentucky Derby The 2023 Kentucky Derby (branded as the 149th Running of the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve for sponsorship reasons) was the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby. It took place on May 6, 2023, the first Saturday in May, in Louisvil ...

Background

Mage is a

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. Description ...

colt bred in Kentucky by Grandview Equine. His sire Good Magic was the U.S. Champion Two-Year-Old in 2017 after he won the 2017

Breeders' Cup Juvenile The Breeders' Cup Juvenile is a Thoroughbred horse race for 2-year-old colts and geldings raced on dirt. It is held annually in late October or early November at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup W ...

as a maiden; in 2018 he finished second in the

Kentucky Derby The Kentucky Derby () is an American Graded stakes race, Grade I stakes Thoroughbred racing, race run at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. The race is run by three-year-old Thoroughbreds at a distance of . Colt (horse), Colts and geldin ...

. His dam, Puca, is a daughter of Big Brown. Mage was initially sold for $235,000 to New Team from the Runnymede Farm consignment at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Mage is the second black-type horse out of his dam's four foals, the other being a stakes-placed Gun Runner filly named Gunning. Mage's full brother

Dornoch Dornoch (; ; ) is a town, seaside resort, parish and former royal burgh in the county of Sutherland in the Highlands of Scotland. It lies on the north shore of the Dornoch Firth, near to where it opens into the Moray Firth to the east. ...

is also a grade-I stakes winner, having won the 2024 Belmont Stakes. The dam, a stakes-winning half sister to Grade I winner Finnegans Wake, also has colt by McKinzie named Baeza, who finished 3rd in the 2025 Kentucky Derby. Mage is a descendent of

Darley Arabian The Darley Arabian (–1730) was one of three dominant foundation sires of modern Thoroughbred horse racing bloodstock. The other two founders were the Godolphin Arabian and the Byerley Turk. This bay Arabian horse was bought in Aleppo, Syria ...

. He is trained by Gustavo Delgado, a four-time

Venezuela Venezuela, officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many Federal Dependencies of Venezuela, islands and islets in the Caribbean Sea. It com ...

n Triple Crown-winning trainer. Mage is owned by OGMA Investments, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing and Commonwealth Thoroughbreds. Commonwealth Thoroughbreds is a micro-shares partnership that formed after Restrepo and Delgado acquired the colt above their initial budget from the Sequel Bloodstock consignment at Fasig-Tipton's Midlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale in May 2022, having cost $290,000.

Career

Mage began his career as a three-year-old on January 28, 2023, with a victory in his first start, a Maiden Special Weight event over seven furlongs at

Gulfstream Park Gulfstream Park is a Thoroughbred racing, Thoroughbred horse race track, casino and outdoor entertainment and shopping destination in Hallandale Beach, Florida, Hallandale Beach, Florida, United States. It is among the most important venues for ...

. His next start was in the

Grade II In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

Fountain of Youth Stakes at Gulfstream Park where he finished fourth by about seven lengths to the 2022 US Champion Two-Year-Old

Forte Forte or Forté may refer to: Music *Forte (music), a musical dynamic meaning "loudly" or "strong" * Forte number, an ordering given to every pitch class set * Forte (notation program), a suite of musical score notation programs * Forte (vocal ...

. Four weeks later, Mage entered the

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

Florida Derby The Florida Derby is an American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-old horses held annually at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. Since 2005, it has been run five weeks before the Kentucky Derby, which is held on the first Saturd ...

where he finished second to

after leading in the straight, beaten by a length. Trainer Gustavo Delgado indicated, "(Mage) might have gotten tired but remember, it's still his third race. How many races did it take Forte to get to the level he is?" Mage collected 40 qualification points on the 2023 Road to the Kentucky Derby and with his fourth in the Fountain of Youth Stakes qualified to start in the

Kentucky Derby

Mage broke slowly in the Derby as he did in his previous two close losing efforts. Jockey

Javier Castellano Javier Castellano (born October 23, 1977) is a Venezuelan jockey in American Thoroughbred horse racing. Castellano won the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Jockey four times in a row from 2013 to 2016. In 2023 he won two legs of the American Tripl ...

allowed his mount to settle toward the back of the field of 18. A fast pace proved to his benefit, with fractions of :22.35, :45.73, and 1:10.11 set by frontrunners Verifying, Kingsbarns, and Reincarnate. Castellano picked his opportunities to advance and had Mage up to sixth by the mile marker. Down the lane, the lightly raced colt caught leader Two Phil's to win by a length in a final time of 2:01.57. At post-time, Mage went off at 15–1 to win. He joins

Regret Regret is the emotion of wishing one had made a different decision in the past, because the consequences of the decision one did make were unfavorable. Regret is related to perceived opportunity. Its intensity varies over time after the decisi ...

(1915), Big Brown (2008), and Justify (2018) as the only Derby winners who had only three prior starts. Mage, Justify, and

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

(1882) are the only horses to win the Derby without having raced as two-year-olds.

Statistics

''Notes:''
An (*) asterisk after the odds means Mage was the post-time favourite.

Stud career

Mage was retired at Airdrie Stud for his first breeding season in 2024, having bred 171

mares A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than four y ...

. In 2025 seasonal breeding, he will continue to serve thereat for a fee of $25,000. The first

foal A foal is an equine up to one year old; this term is used mainly for horses, but can be used for donkeys. More specific terms are colt (horse), colt for a male foal and filly for a female foal, and are used until the horse is three or four. Whe ...

by Mage, a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

colt out of multiple stakes-placed winner, a City of Light

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equidae, equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more th ...

''Lil Miss Moonlight'', was born on January 9 at Machmer Hall in

Paris, Kentucky Paris is a home rule-class city in Bourbon County, Kentucky, and the county seat. It lies northeast of Lexington on the Stoner Fork of the Licking River. It is part of the Lexington–Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of 2020, it ha ...

Pedigree

*^ Mage is

inbred Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genetic disorders an ...

4S x 5S x 4D to the stallion Mr Prospector, meaning that he appears fourth and fifth generation (via

Miswaki Miswaki (February 22, 1978 – December 17, 2004) was an American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse that was a Group One winner in France and a stakes race winner in the United States. He was an important sire of 97 stakes race winners and was the Le ...

)^ on the sire side of his pedigree and fourth generation on the dam side of his pedigree. * Mage is inbred 4S x 4D to the stallion Danzig, meaning that he appears fourth generation on the sire side of his pedigree and fourth generation on the dam side of his pedigree.

References

{{Kentucky Derby Winners 2020 racehorse births American Grade 1 Stakes winners Kentucky Derby winners Racehorses bred in Kentucky Racehorses trained in the United States Thoroughbred family 5-g