Travers 2023: Mage, Arcangelo shine light on smaller stables

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

The mere presence of Kentucky Derby winner Mage and Belmont stakes victor Arcangelo in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes on Saturday represents a significant victory for the game’s little guys and gals.

Gustavo Delgado, an accomplished trainer in his native Venezuela whose move to the United States was driven by his Derby dream, and Jena Antonucci, the first woman to train the winner of a Triple Crown race, are neighbors at their Gulfstream Park home base. They also share the conviction that, for them, smaller is better.

“This industry needs the big stables. It also needs the backbone, which is the middle,” Antonucci said.

A convincing argument can be made that neither Mage nor Arcangelo might have reached the “Mid-Summer Derby” if they were in different hands.

Gustavo Delgado, Jr. emphasized how important it was that he and his father retained majority ownership of the $290,000 purchase at Fasig-Tipton’s Midlantic two-year-olds in training. "We were always on top of him, paying attention every day to what was going on so we knew when to stop or take it easy or do a little more.”

It took courage and imagination to buy the son of Good Magic because he lacked size as a juvenile. Delgado, Jr. and bloodstock agent Ramiro Restrepo, who also bought in, were convinced the colt would fill out and had all the makings of a classic runner. They saw him as a diamond in the rough among such prospects.

“It’s not easy because that is the hardest route. That is where the most money is spent,” Delgado, Jr. said. “The big outfits, that’s where they focus. So it’s hard to find a horse like this.”

Arcangelo, a son of the late Arrogate, was an even greater find. He was purchased for a relatively meager $35,000 by Jon Ebbert’s Blue Rose Farm at Keeneland’s September Yearling Sale.

Neither trainer felt any pressure to produce a quick result. Mage went unraced at 2. Arcangelo did not debut until Dec. 17, when he placed second going six furlongs at Gulfstream Park.

The two modest outfits – each oversees approximately 30 horses – took very different approaches after that. And they achieved results that might not have been possible in the hands of a mega-trainer.

Since the Delgados did not have an abundance of Derby prospects, they fast-tracked Mage. “We did rush him a little bit because we wanted to make the Derby. In his second race, he faced the champion 2-year-old (Forte, in the Fountain of Youth),” Delgado, Jr. noted. “Maybe others would have taken a more conservative route. But if we did, we couldn’t have made the Derby because we needed (qualifying) points.”

Mage put himself on the Road to the Derby with a fourth-place effort in the Fountain of Youth behind Forte and secured his spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May when he missed by one length to the 2-year-old champion in the Florida Derby.

With Ebbert’s approval, Antonucci was almost painstakingly deliberate in her development of Arcangelo. The gray ridgling did not break his maiden until his third lifetime start, in a one-mile contest on March 18 at Gulfstream. He did not race again until he won the May 13 Peter Pan Stakes (G3) at Belmont Park, providing what proved to be an ideal set-up for his historic Belmont.

Antonucci said of her slow but sure approach in developing Arcangelo, “It allowed us to have all hands on deck with attention to details that sometimes may be missed in a larger program and just allowing this horse to fill into his space. It’s hard to say woulda, coulda, shoulda or how it would have been if. But, right now, what we’re doing is working.”

And smaller trainers everywhere are rejoicing.