Travers 2023: Mage develops as next major goal approaches

Seven months ago, Mage had yet to race. Now, he is a Kentucky Derby winner and likely to be one of the top choices in the Grade 1 Travers on Saturday at Saratoga. Co-owner Ramiro Restrepo believes his ability to handle this kind of campaign shows what a special horse Mage is.

"He's gone from a boy to a man from race to race," Restrepo said during a Monday afternoon news conference organized by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.

"Every race, he just becomes so much more professional," Restropo said. "Now more than ever, he's the consummate pro in the way he takes to his training and just marches on. He's in full game mode. He's really matured.

"That experience, everything came at him rather quickly. He's one of three horses to ever win the Kentucky Derby without running at (2). We gave him no time off. He's run in four consecutive Grade 1s. This'll be his fifth consecutive Grade 1. ... He's got tons of talent, tons of heart, tons of ability, and it's been developed in fantastic fashion."

The team of Gustavo Delgado and his son, Gustavo Delgado Jr., are in charge of developing that talent. And they are content in what they are seeing in their work with Mage at the Spa. Mage has taken his time settling in for the Travers and has posted three works at Saratoga in August. His most recent one came Saturday, when he posted a six-furlong breeze in 1:15.66. That mirrors his work for the Kentucky Derby, before which his final drill was also an easy six furlongs.

"That's one thing my dad wanted to do, come here early and just give the horse enough chance to acclimatize and get a feel on the track, get a couple of breezes," Delgado Jr. said on the teleconference. "Right now we think the horse is about to give us a good effort this Saturday."

Jockey Luis Saez, previously Tapit Trice's regular rider, returns to ride Mage for the first time since a second-place finish in the Florida Derby (G1). Restrepo is confident in Saez's ability to judge the ride and get the best out of the son of Good Magic.

"Luckily he's a leading rider and a future hall of famer," Restrepo said. "He's been on the horse before, and you really have to give to give the keys to the Ferrari to Luis." Restrepo also trusts in Mage's ability to handle whichever trip Saez judges to be advantageous in the moment. "The horse is quite versatile. He won wire-to-wire. He stalked before in the Haskell (G1) and in the Fountain of Youth (G2). He's come from off the pace."

Mage has not won since the Kentucky Derby, finishing third behind National Treasure in the Preakness and second to Geaux Rocket Ride in the Haskell. But Delgado compared that to his road to the Kentucky Derby. In that phase of his campaign, he finished fourth in the Fountain of Youth and second in the Florida Derby before winning the run for the roses.

"It's important to highlight the fact that we had the Kentucky Derby as the main goal," Delgado said. "We kind of rushed him a little bit, just to say in his second start he faced Forte, who was the 2-year-old champion. That's what we needed to do back then. We needed to get points in order to participate in the Kentucky Derby. If we had chosen a route being more conservative, we might have been undefeated. ... The spaces between races were so short and the difficulty of each one was very high. And he still delivered in the race we were pointing him toward."

Even as they shoot for the stars, the team behind Mage is content to take it one step at a time. They have not committed to a goal beyond the Travers, though Delgado did say that "in a perfect world, in the best scenario, we might be thinking about the Breeders' Cup Classic."