Mage's Derby Win Keeps Connections' Phone Lines Busy

When your 3-year-old wins the Kentucky Derby (G1), your cell phone tends to blow up.

Friends, family members, friends you didn't know you have, relatives you didn't know you have, acquaintances, former teachers.

It goes on and on and it includes people who want a piece of the action.

The ownership group of the latest Run for the Roses victor and Preakness Stakes (G1) favorite, Mage , can vouch for that.

Ramiro Restrepo, a part-owner and the bloodstock agent who first spotted Mage at a 2-year-old sale, said the four ownership groups are set but calls from breeding farms about the colt's stallion career are being fielded with an attentive ear.

"The racing part is locked up. We got some calls about that pre-Kentucky Derby," Restrepo said about connections that also include OGMA Investments, Sterling Racing, and CMNWLTH. "We're not that good-looking so it's pretty cool to feel you're pretty and be told you're good-looking. We're in discussions (with breeding farms) but we're letting that flow organically and let it come to us. We don't have a timetable and we're not in a rush to make moves."

Adding to the glamour of a victory in the opening leg of the Triple Crown is that Mage is from the first crop of 2017 2-year-old champion male Good Magic  , the 2018 Kentucky Derby runner-up who is off to a fast start at stud. Standing at Hill 'n' Dale Farms at Xalapa near Paris, Ky., for $50,000, the son of elite sire Curlin   has already sired two grade 1 winners and was represented by two starters in the Kentucky Derby (also grade 3 winner Reincarnate ) and three (also grade 1 winner Blazing Sevens  and stakes winner Perform ) in the May 20 Preakness at Pimlico Race Course.

"It's flattering to have some of the most respected names domestically and internationally calling about your horse," Restrepo said about the farms. "With patience and temperance we're reviewing these things, but you know the Preakness is the first thing on our mind and we'll get to those things when we get to them."

Aside from the pedigree of the Stonestreet-bred Good Magic and his family, Mage offers much for breeders to like in his own right. He was grade 1-placed for trainer Gustavo Delgado (whose son Gustavo Jr. runs OGMA) before the May 6 Kentucky Derby with a second in the Florida Derby (G1). Bought for $290,000 from the Sequel Bloodstock consignment at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-Year-Olds in Training Sale, he was bred by Robert Clay's Grandview Equine in Kentucky. 

His dam, the Big Brown   mare Puca , was grade 2-placed for Donegal Racing. She has produced only two foals to race and the other, Gunning , is a stakes-placed Gun Runner   filly who runs in Saturday's Skipat Stakes at Pimlico. The dam's most recent foals are a 2-year-old full brother to Mage who was bought for $325,000 by Oracle Bloodstock at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale and a yearling McKinzie   colt.

"It starts from the beginning. Stonestreet Farm is an incredible program. Hill 'n' Dale's record speaks for itself," Restrepo said. "The female family is (Donegal Racing CEO) Jerry Crawford who has a ton of success. You put it all together and it's quite respected on top and bottom. The horse is a good-looking individual. He was bred by Grandview with (Alex Solis II) and (Jason) Litt involved—how smart are those guys? They've had a ton of success. It's easy to acknowledge all those people now because so many things have come together. The horse was well-meant from some well-meant people, and I'm just glad we've been able to be stewards of that ship. We'll see how far it goes."