Florida Derby Contender Mage Part of Clay's Grand View

Industry veteran Robert Clay does not yet dream of being on the Road to the Kentucky Derby despite knowing a colt he bred will be in the Florida Derby (G1) starting gate.

Clay's Grandview Equine bred Mage , who will start under jockey Luis Saez in post position 4 for the Florida Derby April 1 at Gulfstream Park. The race offers 200 Road to the Kentucky Derby qualifying points for the top five finishers (100-40-30-20-10).

"I don't have those kinds of expectations. If I did, I probably wouldn't still be in the business," Clay said with a chuckle of Triple Crown aspirations. "I don't think anybody knows how good this colt (Mage) may be. I'm not expecting him to win a Kentucky Derby (G1), but stranger things have happened."

Twelve 3-year-olds are entered in the $1 million Florida Derby, which has produced 24 Kentucky Derby winners. Last year's juvenile champion male, Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable's Forte , is the 4-5 morning-line favorite despite drawing post position 11, a challenging starting spot because of Gulfstream's first turn being a relatively short distance from the 1 1/8-mile starting gate position. The Todd Pletcher-trained son of Violence   will be ridden by Irad Oriz Jr. 

Clay is well aware of the champion's considerable talents.

"I think when Forte won the Fountain of Youth (Stakes, G2), I thought, 'Now, he's grown up. He's a man among boys right now,'" Clay said.

But things can change quickly this time of year as new 3-year-olds emerge. Unraced at 2, Gustavo Delgado-trained Mage earned his initial win first time out in a Jan. 28 maiden special weight race at Gulfstream, where the chestnut son of Good Magic  —Puca, by Big Brown  , then finished fourth in the March 4 Fountain of Youth. He ran well in that second start despite a rough start that included hitting the gate, being bumped, and racing wide.

Mage, whose morning-line Florida Derby odds are 10-1, is owned by the trainer's OGMA Investments, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing (Sam Herzberg), and CMNWLTH (Chase Chamberlin).

"The 11th hole Forte got is unfortunate," Clay said, "but they certainly stepped Mage up in class very quickly."

Clay, 76, remembers Mage as a yearling that Grandview Equine sold for $235,000 at the 2021 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

"He had an issue in the stall at the sales. It wasn't a big issue—he hurt himself in the stall—and we worried about it because it was cosmetic," said Clay, founder and former owner of Three Chimneys Farm. "So, we lowered the reserve. But it still brought more than our original reserve.

"He was well-received at the sale. He was a nice, athletic colt. We thought he was going to bring some money and he did."

While at Three Chimneys Farm, which was purchased by Goncalo Borges Torrealba in 2013, Clay was responsible for the management and oversight of such stallions as Seattle Slew and Dynaformer. In partnership, Clay's Three Chimneys campaigned some Derby starters, including 1985 third-place finisher Chief's Crown. 

Clay started Grandview Equine in 2018, and eyed buying talented colts who could become quality stallions with partners LNJ Foxwoods (Larry, Nanci, and Jaime Roth) and Everett Dobson's Cheyenne Stable.

"I've spent my whole life really buying prospective stallions after they've won races like the Florida Derby and syndicating them," Clay said. "When I sold the farm, I thought, 'Let's play on the other end of the spectrum. Let's go in and buy some nice yearlings and try to develop a stallion and sell it to my former competitors.'"

The partnership hit on some nice colts, including grade 1 winner and last year's Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) runner-up Olympiad  , a son of Speightstown  ; grade 3 winner Scalding , a son of Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist  ; and grade 1-placed Shoplifted  , a son of multiple leading sire Into Mischief  . 

Clay said Grandview Equine then "diversified" by purchasing shares in some horses, including Good Magic and McKinzie  , and also bought some mares, such as grade 2-placed stakes winner Puca, to breed to those stallions.

"We've got some dry powder and we've also got some mares and some shares that are producing some income," Clay said. "We haven't gone back into the yearling market, but we may."

Clay is optimistic for on-track success in 2023 for several Grandview Equine runners. He cited Gilded Age , a grade 3-placed 4-year-old bay son of Medaglia d'Oro   trained by Bill Mott that Grandview owns with Don Alberto Stable; Vindictive , a grade 3-placed 5-year-old bay son of Uncle Mo   trained by Pletcher for Grandview Equine, Cheyenne Stable, and LNJ Foxwoods; and Gunning , a stakes-placed 4-year-old daughter of Gun Runner   trained by Ken McPeek, bred and owned by Grandview.

As for Saturday, Clay plans to head back to Lexington to enjoy opening weekend at Keeneland instead of attending the Florida Derby. But he'll make sure he has access to the Gulfstream simulcast.

"I'll be watching most of the Gulfstream card," he said. "I hope Mage runs a good race. It's a long year. Lots of opportunities coming up."