Mage wins the 149th Kentucky Derby. The colt has a Miami connection
Mage, a chestnut colt with a part-owner who is a University of Miami graduate, won the 149th Kentucky Derby on Saturday by overtaking Two Phil’s down the stretch of the 1 1/4-mile race in front of a crowd of 150,335 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky.
The colt crossed the finish line in 2:01.57 under jockey Javier Castellano.
Mage, the son of Good Magic (the 2018 Kentucky Derby runner-up), is part-owned by 44-year-old Ramiro Restrepo, a University of Miami alumnus who comes from a family of horse racing enthusiasts. Restrepo and South Florida-based Gustavo Delgado Jr. each retained a 25 percent stake in Mage.
This was the second career victory in four races for Mage, who entered the race with 15-to-1 odds to win the first leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown. Each of Mage’s other three races took place at Hallandale Beach’s Gulfstream Park.
Mage’s lone win before Saturday was was on Jan. 28 as part of the undercard of the $3 million Pegasus World Cup, the richest race in Florida. Mage won impressively, defeating a field of fellow “maidens” by nearly four lengths.
Five weeks later, Mage returned in the Fountain of Youth Stakes, a race for budding 3-year-old standouts, and finished fourth behind Forte.
And then Mage finished as the runner-up to Forte in the Florida Derby on April 1 after falling to the back of the pack early in the race.
The race field at the Kentucky Derby was trimmed significantly, with five of 23 horses that qualified for the race being scratched. It was the first Kentucky Derby since 1936 to feature five scratches.
Forte, the betting-favorite horse heading into Saturday’s Kentucky Derby that is co-owned by Florida Panthers owner Vinnie Viola, was the headliner among the handful that did not get to the starting line. Forte had a bruised foot.
Seven horses, including one who qualified for the Derby, died in the days before the Derby.
This story was originally published May 6, 2023 at 7:58 PM.
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