The Puma follows Mage’s path through Florida to Ky. Derby

The Puma comes along at an opportune time for the same team that guided Mage to a Kentucky Derby triumph three years ago. He also represents a source of pride for a nation that was in the crosshairs of the U.S. military’s action to capture president Nicolás Maduro early this year.

“Like all Venezuelans, we have gone through a lot in the last decades,” assistant trainer and co-owner Gustavo Delgado Jr. said. “These kinds of things, they get us united, and it’s a good thing for my country, and we’re all very proud of that.”

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Delgado actually was speaking as much about Venezuela’s win over the U.S. this month in the championship of the World Baseball Classic as he was about this weekend. Now he and his father, trainer Gustavo Delgado Sr., hope The Puma can give their homeland something to celebrate Saturday in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby.

“(The WBC championship) united us, and the Kentucky Derby is something that can accomplish that, too,” Delgado said this week on Horse Racing Nation’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod. “People take a lot of pride, yeah. That will be something very interesting to see if we can accomplish that for a second time.”

The end of the Derby trail will be similar for The Puma as it was for Mage. Both will have gone through South Florida for their last prep before running for the roses. Mage finished second in the Florida Derby to Forte, who would have been the favorite in Kentucky if not for a bruised foot that led a state veterinarian to scratch him 10 hours before America’s biggest race.

Mage was just a maiden winner when he pulled off his 15-1 upset that day at Churchill Downs. The same is true right now of The Puma, who got his first win in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3). That was only three weeks ago.

The thought of training nearly two months up to the Kentucky Derby never was considered.

“No, no, no, no,” Delgado said in Florida. “This is a thick horse that needs to be doing something. So no, not really. We looked at the eight weeks. It was a little bit too much without having any race in him. We just keep track of him energy-wise and how he’s been eating. Everything suggests that we should race here.”

The Delgados and lead owner Ramiro Restrepo of OGMA Investments, who also formed Mage’s inner circle, decided against going to Keeneland next week for the Blue Grass Stakes (G1) before heading down the road for the Kentucky Derby. It was not so much a matter of timing.

“Gulfstream is home for us, so we don’t have to ship,” Delgado said. “First taking him to Keeneland and then taking him to Churchill, I know it’s a one-hour (drive), but more importantly it’s two different surroundings to train up to. We’re just going to follow the path that we’ve done in the past.”

Delgado said that means continuing to train The Puma in Florida before shipping to Kentucky 10 to 14 days before the Derby.

Bred in Kentucky by Hidden Brook Farm and Brian Kahn, the chestnut colt is by Essential Quality out of Declaration of War mare Eve of War. He did not meet his reserve of $95,000 at the September 2024 Keeneland yearling sale, but he caught Restrepo’s eye in April at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales spring auction of 2-year-olds in training.

“Hidden Brook had another colt in their consignment. ... He turned out to be Ewing, who broke his maiden real big and won the Saratoga Special (G2) in his second race,” Restrepo said after the Tampa Bay Derby. “We also liked this colt by Essential Quality. When I went into the ring for Ewing, he went (for $575,000), so we didn’t get him. I remember going back to the consignment and said, well, we missed out on the first one. Let’s bring out the Essential Quality again. I saw him a couple more times and said we couldn’t get the first one, but let’s get this second one.”

Wearing hip no. 1028, the colt who would become The Puma was sold to Restrepo for $150,000.

“I was kind of surprised he went for $150,000,” Restrepo said, “but you had to be there and see what the market dictates.”

“At the sale when we got him, I was really excited about his gallop-out, and then we confirmed that in every single breeze that he’s put out here,” Delgado said. “All the gallop-outs have always been really strong, and that’s basically what we focus on when we’re scouting them. We want horses that want to go the distance.”

The Puma, like most of the rest of the eight-horse field Saturday, will stretch to 1 1/8 miles. Closing from last place to win the 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay Derby, he boosted Delgado’s confidence that added distance in the coming races will be no problem. Now it is a matter of taking down the likes of morning-line favorite Chief Wallabee, the Bill Mott-trained stalker who beat The Puma by three-quarters of a length in their seven-furlong debut Jan. 10 at Gulfstream.

“Chief Wallabee, he’s a really nice horse,” Delgado said. “To our defense (in January) we weren’t 100% for that race. We had our own things, too. We didn’t break well. (Jockey) Javier (Castellano) was a little bit aggressive but in a good way. We told him to just put him out there, because I think it’s going to take a really good horse to get him beaten the first time out.”

Just as The Puma did in the Tampa Bay Derby, Chief Wallabee was making up ground late when he finished a neck behind Commandment on Feb. 28 in the 1 1/16-mile Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream. Trained by Brad Cox, Commandment is a mid-pack runner who is the second choice in the Florida Derby program.

Then there is Holy Bull (G3) winner Nearly, a potential pacesetter who brings a three-race winning streak for trainer Todd Pletcher into Saturday’s race. He is the third choice just ahead of The Puma.

“I think this is probably the best Derby prep that we’re going to have,” Delgado said, noting that the Florida Derby has produced a record 26 Kentucky Derby winners. “I don't know about California, but so far we have seen this is the race that congregates the best horses up until now. I wouldn’t be surprised that whoever wins this race is going to be the (Kentucky Derby) favorite.”

Castellano will be on The Puma’s back again, just as he was in the Tampa Bay Derby. And just as he was on Mage to get what had been an elusive first Kentucky Derby victory in his Hall of Fame career.

And yes, Castellano also is from Venezuela, just one more point of pride for a nation that produced Cañonero II and his jockey Gustavo Ávila. Their victory in the 1971 Kentucky Derby charted the course that the Delgados and Castellano followed with Mage in 2023.

“We always want to represent our country in the best way possible,” Delgado said. “It’s a team. We always have that as the main goal. That’s the main objective. We’re not a big barn, but we’re always trying to find these horses that can take us there, and that’s what gets us going.”