What to Watch for within the 2023 Preakness Stakes

Amid the deaths and scratches that surrounded this 12 months’s Kentucky Derby, the feel-good tales concerning the winner, Mage, have been overshadowed. But there’s rather a lot to love concerning the fast-developing colt as he heads into the 148th operating of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday.

He was solely the third horse to win the Derby with out racing as a 2-year-old and the fourth to win it with solely three earlier begins. Another horse that did each? Justify, the latest Triple Crown winner, in 2018.

Mage’s solely two losses have come in opposition to Forte, the morning-line favourite for the Derby who was scratched the day of the race. Now Mage is the lone Derby contender within the Preakness, and his greatest foe, First Mission, was scratched on Friday.

Mage is a dream for a Venezuelan workforce — and for his small-time house owners.

Mage’s coach, Gustavo Delgado Sr., gained the Venezuelan Triple Crown twice earlier than coming to the United States in 2014 to set his sights on successful America’s greatest races.

“I just wanted to get to the Kentucky Derby, and we did, but this horse, we knew he was very, very good,” mentioned Delgado Sr., who has saddled three horses within the Derby.

His son, Gustavo Delgado Jr., mentioned his father was impressed by the success of the Venezuelan connections who gained the Derby and the Preakness with Canonero II in 1971.

“He grew up in a generation where everybody was talking about it, and he always felt like he could accomplish that,” mentioned Delgado Jr., who’s his father’s assistant. “I remember when I was a kid, because when he was successful down in Venezuela, he would always tell me, ‘One day, we should go to the States and win one of those races.’”

Mage’s jockey, Javier Castellano, and his train rider, J.J. Delgado (no relation), are additionally from Venezuela. Castellano’s father and J.J. Delgado used to journey for Delgado Sr. there.

Castellano mentioned he was motivated heading into the Derby when he noticed the NBC broadcast’s point out of his 0‑for-15 document within the race. He has loved extra success within the Preakness, successful in 2006 with Bernardini and in 2017 with Cloud Computing.

Another problem for the Delgados after they got here to the United States was discovering good horses and house owners who believed in them. In Mage’s case, the Delgados teamed up with the bloodstock agent Ramiro Restrepo, whose household emigrated from Colombia earlier than he was born, on the Fasig‑Tipton 2‑12 months‑outdated sale in Timonium, Md. They favored that the horse was a close to duplicate of his sire, Good Magic, who completed second within the Derby and fourth within the Preakness.

They favored him a lot that they went over their funds, spending $290,000. So they referred to as up a number of individuals to assist share the prices, together with the true property investor Sam Herzberg and the entrepreneurs Brian Doxtator and Chase Chamberlin, whose Commonwealth app permits followers to purchase shares in racehorses for just a little as $50.

And in order that melting pot of a gaggle rode Mage straight into the winner’s circle on the primary Saturday in May, resulting in maybe the largest winner’s circle social gathering in Derby historical past — even Mage appeared small in the course of it.

About 80 of the 382 individuals who invested in Mage by way of Commonwealth have been there. One of them was Norma Barnes-Euresti from Michigan. When her wheelchair acquired caught on the observe, Gerardo Corrales and Jose Ortiz, who had simply rode within the Derby, carried her the remainder of the best way.

“I don’t have legs today, but I got the ride of a lifetime,” she mentioned on NBC, talking concerning the jockeys’ kindness and, after all, her Triple Crown contender Mage.

First Mission is scratched as regulators apply additional scrutiny.

After seven horses died at Churchill Downs forward of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes officers are taking a cautious strategy. First Mission, the 5-2 second selection within the morning line, was scratched from the race early Friday morning with an unspecified left hind-ankle damage.

The colt is educated by Brad Cox and owned by the Godolphin secure, which belongs to Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai. First Mission was coming off a powerful victory within the Lexington Stakes final month at Keeneland, however his coach seen one thing was off after coaching on Wednesday, and on Friday, the veterinarian workforce for 1/ST racing, which owns Pimlico Race Course, scratched the horse.

Michael Banahan, Godolphin U.S.A.’s director of bloodstock, mentioned First Mission can be despatched again to Lexington, Ky., for a full examination.

“They thought maybe it was a minor issue with the left hind ankle — you just really couldn’t do proper diagnostics on site, on the track,” Banahan mentioned. “He was doing great at Pimlico. But that’s the way it goes.”

The additional scrutiny is being prolonged to each horse competing right here over the weekend. Officials are requiring two veterinary authorizations earlier than a horse is allowed to run — one from the coach’s non-public vet, the opposite from the regulatory vet within the state the place the horse was stabled earlier than coming to Baltimore.

The scratch of First Mission makes this the primary time since 1986 that the Preakness can have solely seven horses, which makes an already weak discipline weaker. The second leg of the Triple Crown has not included just one Derby contender since 1948, when Citation ran and gained. He then prevailed within the Belmont Stakes and swept the Triple Crown.

Bob Baffert returns to the Triple Crown path.

The Hall of Fame coach Bob Baffert is returning to the Triple Crown stage after his colt Medina Spirit failed a drug take a look at after successful the 2021 Kentucky Derby. Medina Spirit was allowed to run within the Preakness however completed a well-beaten third.

Baffert has since served a suspension handed down by Kentucky regulators and a two-year ban from the Derby and Churchill Downs. Last 12 months, Baffert was serving his Kentucky suspension throughout the Triple Crown, so the racing commissions in Maryland and New York saved him from the Preakness and Belmont.

Now he returns with National Treasure, the fourth-place finisher within the Santa Anita Derby, to hunt a record-breaking eighth victory within the Preakness. He is at the moment tied with the Nineteenth-century coach R. Wyndham Walden.

Baffert’s first three Derby-Preakness winners — Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998) and War Emblem (2002) — have been unable to finish the Triple Crown sweep at Belmont Park. But the final two, American Pharoah in 2015 and Justify in 2018, acquired the job accomplished.

The Hall of Famer John Velazquez will probably be aboard National Treasure, who was 3-1 within the morning line. The colt has gained solely as soon as however was aggressive within the premier races in California and Kentucky. He was third within the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to Forte.

“I think he fits here,” Baffert instructed reporters this week. “He will have to step it up. He is a horse that has not filled into his frame yet, but we have always been high on him. He hasn’t really run a bad race.”