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Mage won the Kentucky Derby, surging late to beat out Two Phil’s at Churchill Downs.
He won with a time of 2:01 with veteran jockey Javier Castellano and trainer Gustavo Delgado, who are both Venezuelan.
“Never give up, always try hard, do the right thing,” Castellano said of winning his first Kentucky Derby.
Mage came from behind as Kingsbarns took an early lead and Two Phil’s was winning midway through the race.
“It’s a little horse, but a big heart,” Castellano said.
Delgado reflected on his journey after participating in two previous Kentucky Derbies and getting his first win.
“When I came to the United States, my first dream is, ‘Go to Kentucky Derby. Go to the Derby,’” he said. “When I ran two times, you remember, those horses very bad. But this time, I sure that the horse very, very good.”
Mage is owned by a group of 382 people, headed by Cincinnati businessman Chase Chamberlin. He dedicated the race to his friend and fellow shareholder who died from breast cancer two weeks ago at the age of 38.
“The dream is alive. This is what horse racing’s all about,” he said. “It’s the only animal in the world that could take a million people for a ride all along or in our case, 382.”
Saturday was the 149th running of the Kentucky Derby, but this year’s event was marred by the deaths of seven horses in the lead-up to the race.
Hours before the Derby, favorite Forte was scratched, becoming the fifth horse scratched from the race. That opened the door for the other contenders with the field down to 18 horses.
It’s been a tumultuous week at Churchill Downs. Two of the horses who died had the same trainer, Saffie Joseph Jr. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and the Board of Stewards suspended Joseph indefinitely and scratched his Derby horse, Lord Miles, in the wake of the deaths.
The sixth horse to die this week, Chloe’s Dream, was euthanized Saturday after an injury in Race 2, and Freezing Point died after the eighth race of the day. He was euthanized following an ankle injury.
The second leg of the Triple Crown is the Preakness Stakes, run May 20 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The last horse to win the Preakness after a Derby victory was Justify in 2018, who went on to take the Belmont Stakes and become the 13th Triple Crown winner.
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