He was a 15-1 shot on Derby Day, and wasn’t much talked about in the lead up to the race, but Mage found a way to win the Kentucky Derby on Saturday night, beating Two Phil’s and a late charging Angel of Empire.
The victory for Mage was a historic one, as it was the first career Kentucky Derby wins for Gustavo Delgado and jockey Javier Castellano. Both are from Venezuela. Castellano is a Hall of Fame jockey, but he never won the Derby, and was one of four jockey’s to race 15 previous Kentucky Derby’s without winning one.
That record was finally snapped.
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Mage wasn’t even on the radar until the top of the stretch when Castellano kicked his horse into another gear passing the group, passing KingsBarnes who was leading most of the race, and eventually passing Two Phil’s down the stretch.
It was Mage and Two Phil’s the rest of the way until Angel of Empire started to make his move at the last second, but couldn’t catch-up to the other two. Empire was neck and neck with Two Phil’s when the three horses crossed the finish line.