Part Owner Ramiro Restrepo: ‘Crab Cakes Here We Come’
National Treasure Set for Preakness Run after Sharp Breeze
McGaughey: Preakness Ideal Fit for Perform
First Mission scheduled for Saturday Breeze

BALTIMORE – Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mage was officially confirmed Friday morning for a start in the May 20 Preakness Stakes (G1) at historic Pimlico Race Course.

After trainer Gustavo Delgado and his son and assistant Gustavo Delgado Jr. were satisfied with how Mage galloped and cooled out Friday morning at Churchill Downs, they had their two partners on hand to share the news with media members.

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“We’re thrilled to announce that Mage is headed to the 148th running of the Preakness Stakes,” said Chase Chamberlin, the Cincinnati-based co-founder and director of racing for the CMNWLTH micro-shares partnership that owns 25 percent of the Kentucky Derby winner.

“We’re very excited. He’s had a magnificent week of training,” said Ramiro Restrepo, who also owns 25 percent and put the ownership group together after he and Delgado Jr. purchased Mage at Fasig-Tipton’s Timonium 2-year-old sale just days following last year’s Preakness. “Gustavo is really pleased and over the moon with how he’s come back. He’s shown all the positive signs, so it’s on to Baltimore — and crab cakes here we come.”

Restrepo said exercise rider J.J. Delgado, who is no relation though from the same Venezuelan town as the father-son training team, was extremely pleased with how Mage has come out of his Derby score.

“He said he hasn’t lost any luster from his pre-Kentucky Derby training. He feels a lot of horse under him. The horse is just thriving right now. J.J. – who we trust so much because he’s the F1 practice driver; he’s in the cockpit – feels the horse is just full of himself. He hasn’t missed any meals. He hasn’t missed any shredded carrots or mints. Everything you could ask for he’s given us all the green lights.”

Mage is scheduled to train again early Saturday morning at Churchill Downs before vanning that afternoon to Baltimore with his stablemates, the filly Isabel Alexandra, who is scheduled to run in a Pimlico allowance race Sunday, and O Captain, who ran fifth in an allowance race Thursday evening at Churchill Downs. Restrepo said the horses should arrive early Sunday morning at Old Hilltop, with Mage likely to train Monday.

“You’re curious and cautious until you see how they come out of it,” Restrepo said of waiting to make a final pronouncement on Mage’s status for the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown. “That’s why you don’t want to jump to conclusions. You have to let Mage talk. Unfortunately, he speaks horse and not English. So, it’s up to us to be his stewards, and you leave it up to the horsemanship of Gustavo Sr. and Jr. and J.J., who rides him; and (groom) Moises Morales, who is with him; Candido Salcedo, who cares for him; and lean on them. They are the ones who are fluent in the Thoroughbred. We don’t take that lightly. It’s super important that Mage is the one who gives us the indication that he wants to go run.

“We’ve been just monitoring that situation with all the love that he’s shown us on the racetrack,” he added. “We’re trying to bestow that upon him and give him the time to show us what’s up. Everything he did prior to the Derby has continued all the way through. That type of consistency merits a shot at the Preakness.”

Restrepo said that the owners do feel a responsibility as the Derby winners “to be stewards of horse racing and to open ourselves up for questions and comments about our horse and his performance.

“But we owe the horse himself before anything else,” the Miami and Lexington-based bloodstock agent said. “The horse comes first. While our selfish dreams might be Preakness and all these things, he’s the one doing the running. We’re not. There’s a ton of tradition, and we respect the game so much, but you always have to take this day by day. I know it sounds cliche, but it’s reality. If he wouldn’t have been up to par, then what are we doing? Sacrificing a potential positive, top-of-the-line effort just for the sake of us having fun in Baltimore? But that’s not the case…. It’s been green light from all the eyes and ears in the barn, and Mage is showing it, so we’re over the moon.”

The rest of Mage’s ownership group is composed of the Delgados’ OGMA Investments LLC and Sam Herzberg’s Sterling Racing, each with 25 percent.

Mage joined 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify as the only unraced 2-year-olds to win the Derby since Apollo in 1882. He also joined Justify and 2008 Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown as the only horses to capture the Derby off only three lifetime starts since the filly Regret in 1915.

“Just because of the fact that he has only four starts, and usually (horses) tend to get better with races, especially after the third, fourth, I think he has good momentum,” Delgado Jr. said. “That gives us confidence. But every day is crucial.”

National Treasure Set for Preakness Run After Sharp Breeze

After watching National Treasure turn in a sharp workout Friday morning at Santa Anita Park, Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert said that the colt will run in the 148th Preakness Stakes (G1) on May 20 at Pimlico Race Course.

National Treasure had a listed time of :47.40 seconds for a half-mile, the fastest at the distance. It was his fourth timed work since he finished fourth in the April 8 Santa Anita Derby (G1). On May 6, the son of Quality Road breezed six furlongs in 1:11.20, also the fastest at that distance that morning.

“I was happy with him,” he said. “It was serious but not as serious as last week’s. He went nice. I was happy with it.”

National Treasure and three other graded-stakes performers that worked Friday for Baffert will ship from California to Maryland Saturday to be prepared for Preakness Weekend stakes: Michael Lund Peterson’s unbeaten filly Faiza for the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) on Friday, May 19; and Havnameltdown for the Chick Lang (G3) and Arabian Lion for the Sir Barton on the Preakness program on Saturday May 20.

With Hall of Fame rider John Velazquez up, National Treasure will be Baffert’s 25th Preakness starter. He is tied with 19th century trainer R. Wyndham Walden with a record seven victories. His most recent victory was in 2018 with Triple Crown winner Justify.

National Treasure is owned by SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Robert E. Masterson, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Jay A. Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan. He has one win in five career starts but has three graded-stakes placings.

McGaughey: Preakness ideal fit for Perform

Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey feels that the 148th Preakness Stakes (G1) is an ideal fit for Perform, who will be making his graded-stakes debut in the May 20 Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown at Pimlico Race Course.

The Good Magic colt, who is co-owned by Woodford Racing LLC, Lanes End Farm, Phipps Stable, Ken Langone, and Edward J. Hudson Jr., has won his last two races around two turns after not delivering in sprints. Following a workout after he won the 1 1/8 miles Federico Tesio by a head on April 15 at Laurel under Feargal Lynch, his owners decided to pay the $150,000 supplemental fee to enter him in the Preakness.

“I think the distance is a big thing and the two turns is a big thing,” McGaughey said. “Obviously, we hope we'd get a little speed in front of us, which we probably will. In these races, they usually do. I hope we're finishing with Mage and can outkick him. But I think that just the two turns on the dirt, the distance, the mile and three-sixteenths, the timing is pretty good. We've got plenty of time in between races. He had a good work here last Sunday with Lynch on him and, that's what made up my mind that, along with his owners to say, ‘let's give it a chance.’”

McGaughey said that Perform will probably work a half-mile at Belmont Park on Sunday morning and will ship to Pimlico on Tuesday or Wednesday.

First Mission scheduled for Saturday Breeze

In preparation for a planned start in the May 20 Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico Race Course, Godolphin’s First Mission is scheduled to breeze at Churchill Downs Saturday morning.

Trainer Brad Cox said the Stonestreet Lexington Stakes (G3) winner will likely go to the track for the work as soon as it opens at 5:30 a.m.

Also at Churchill Downs, Preakness candidates Red Route One and Confidence Game had routine gallops Friday morning.

Red Route One, who earned a free spot in the Preakness starting gate by virtue of winning Oaklawn Park’s Bath House Row Stakes, is scheduled to work Sunday, with stablemate and Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher Disarm set to breeze Monday. Both colts are trained by Hall of Famer Steve Asmussen for owner-breeder Ron Winchell.

Trainer Keith Desormeaux has said that a decision on running Confidence Game, 10th in the Kentucky Derby in his first start in 10 weeks, likely will be made Sunday. Desormeaux, who flew back to California to oversee his main operation, said he does not plan to work Oaklawn’s Rebel Stakes (G2) winner before the Preakness.