Mage returns to work tab, pointing for Breeders' Cup Classic
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Mage, the Kentucky Derby winner, worked five furlongs in 1:03 on Sunday at the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, Ky., the first step toward what his connections hope is a start in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita.
The work was the first for Mage since his disappointing last-place finish in the Travers Stakes on Aug. 26 at Saratoga.
“He actually did pretty good. He wanted to do more, but that was sufficient,” said Gustavo Delgado Jr., assistant to his father, Gustavo Delgado Sr., of the work. “The way he came back after the breeze, he was not even tired; so far so good. He looks good.”
Mage remained in Saratoga for about a week after the Travers before shipping to the TTC, where he was based earlier this year, in between his third-place finish in the Preakness at Pimlico on May 20 and runner-up finish in the Haskell Stakes at Monmouth on July 22.
Mage was a bit eager in the early stages of the Travers, but jockey Flavien Prat -- filling in for an injured Luis Saez -- took the horse back off the pace and the horse did little running after that.
“One of the best things about it was Flavien didn’t make him go and then just let him gallop to the wire,” Delgado said. “In the end, that was a good thing because he came back in one piece.”
Saez was injured a few days before the Travers, sustaining a broken collarbone and fractured wrist in a spill during the running of a race at Saratoga. Saez is scheduled to return to race-riding with Friday’s opening card at Keeneland.
Delgado said Saez is the leading candidate to ride Mage in the Breeders’ Cup and added that Saez may even work the horse, perhaps on Oct. 14, if available.
“We usually don’t do that, but we want to make sure all systems are go and get another perspective other than just that of the exercise rider,” Delgado said.
Delgado noted that Mage would likely work the next four Saturdays at the Thoroughbred Training Center and is tentatively booked on an Oct. 30 flight to California.
“If he’s running, it’ll be entirely him telling us and giving us all the right signs that he’s fine and good to go for a race like the Classic,” Delgado said. “He doesn’t owe us anything.”
It was recently announced that Mage would stand stud at Airdrie Stud when his racing career concludes. Mage is, however, scheduled to race in 2024.
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