Mage overtakes Two Phil’s, wins Kentucky Derby
LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Mage, a 15-1 shot, crossed the finish line to win the 149th Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on Saturday, overtaking Two Phil’s down the stretch to win the first leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown.
Mage covered the 1 1/4 miles in 2:01.57 under Hall of Fame jockey Javier Castellano, who snapped an 0-for-15 skid in the Derby.
The colt earned $1,860,000 for the biggest win of his brief career.
Mage, who didn’t race as a 2-year-old, had only one win in three previous races, giving little indication that he could triumph against 17 rivals in a race that is not kind to the inexperienced. Still, he made a gutsy stretch run, overtaking Two Phil’s to his inside and winning by a length.
Two Phil’s and 4-1 favorite Angel of Empire followed Mage to the finish line in front of a crowd of 150,335 on a warm and partly cloudy day at Churchill Downs.
Mage joined Justify (2018), Big Brown (2008) and Regret (2015) as Derby winners with just three previous starts.
Castellano and trainer Gustavo Delgado are from Venezuela.
“I never give up,” said the 45-year-old Castellano, a four-time Eclipse Award winner as outstanding jockey who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017. “I always try hard to do the right thing. It took me a little while to get there. I finally got it.”
Mage joined Canonero II as Derby winners with Venezuelan ties. Canonero II won the Derby and Preakness in 1971.
Going into the backstretch, Mage was ahead of just three horses. Castellano and Mage began picking off the competition and launched their run on the far turn.
“Turning for home, he had a lot of heart,” Castellano said. “He’s a little horse with a big heart.”
Castellano previously had two wins in Triple Crown races. Both came in the Preakness Stakes — aboard Bernardini in 2006 and Cloud Computing in 2017.
“I feel like I’m on top of the world,” said Castellano, who also rode Webslinger to victory in the American Turf on Saturday. “If one thing has been consistent in my career, I never give up. … I always tried to be positive and tried to find the right horse to participate in one of the biggest races in the world.”
Two Phil’s stormed to the lead at the top of the stretch. Mage swung to the outside and took aim on the leader. Mage passed him at the eighth-pole and went on to victory.
“Everything went according to plan,” co-trainer Gustavo Delgado Jr. said. “This is the dream I have, a year-and-a-half ago, I wrote a note: ‘We’re going to win the Derby next year.'”
Mage paid $32.42, $14.58 and $9.08. Two Phil’s returned $10.44 and $6.52 at 9-1 odds. Angel of Empire paid $4.70 to show.
“Man, he tried so hard and ran his heart out,” said Larry Rivelli, who trains Two Phil’s.
Disarm was fourth, followed by Hit Show, Japan-based Derma Sotogake, Tapit Trice and Raise Cain, Rocket Can, Confidence Game, Sun Thunder, Japan’s Mandarin Hero, Reincarnate, Kingsbarns, King Russell, Verifying, Jace’s Road and Cyclone Mischief.
Forte, the early favorite, was scratched in the morning with a bruised foot, one of five horses that dropped out in the days leading to the race.
In his last race, Mage finished second by a length to Forte in the Florida Derby. Earlier this year, Mage was fourth in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park.
Two more horses died in earlier races Saturday, making it seven in all at Churchill Downs this week.
“It’s a very difficult subject to touch upon,” said Ramiro Restrepo, part of Mage’s ownership and a bloodstock agent. “I’m sure there’s going to be some investigations done as to the reason behind that, and hopefully that provides a few more answers.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tennessee quarterback Nico Iamaleava officially announced his transfer to UCLA via a social media post Sunday.
“My journey at UT has come to an end,” he wrote on Instagram. “This decision was incredibly difficult, and truthfully, not something I expected to make this soon. But I trust God’s timing, and I believe He’s leading me where I need to be.
“Even though this chapter is ending, a new chapter has begun and I am committed to UCLA!”
Iamaleava was a highly regarded recruit who led Tennessee to the College Football Playoff last season. He was No. 1 in ESPN’s transfer portal rankings and immediately gives UCLA one of the best-known players in the sport upon his arrival. The Bruins are coming off a 5-7 debut season by coach DeShaun Foster.
Iamaleava, a five-star prospect from Long Beach, California, was recruited by UCLA out of high school. His younger brother, Madden Iamaleava, committed to UCLA out of high school but changed his commitment on the morning of signing day and signed with Arkansas.
Those recruitments gave both sides plenty of familiarity and the ability to potentially move quickly.
Iamaleava passed for 2,616 yards, 19 touchdowns and 5 interceptions in his first season as a starter, but in nine games against SEC opponents and Ohio State in the playoff, he threw for more than 200 yards only twice.
Tennessee’s offense finished No. 9 in the conference in scoring with 25.0 points per game in SEC play. The Volunteers’ offense was No. 1 in rushing and No. 11 in passing in league play.
UCLA is coming off a season in which it finished No. 14 in scoring offense and No. 12 in total offense in Big Ten play.
Iamaleava was earning $2.4 million at Tennessee under the contract he signed with Spyre Sports Group, the Tennessee-based collective, when he was still in high school. The deal would have paid him in the $10 million range altogether had he stayed four years at Tennessee.
Tennessee coach Josh Heupel announced last week after the Volunteers’ spring game that the program was moving forward without Iamaleava after he missed practice and meetings April 11. He hadn’t alerted anyone on the team and was unresponsive afterward.
Heupel thanked Iamaleava and called the situation unfortunate, but added, “There’s no one bigger than the Power T, and that includes me.”
Iamaleava, a rising redshirt sophomore, officially entered the transfer portal Wednesday with a do-not-contact tag.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel contributed to this report.
-
Kristen Shilton
The New Jersey Devils‘ injury woes may have reached alarming new heights.
Defenseman Brenden Dillon and forward Cody Glass exited during the second and third periods, respectively, in Game 1 of the first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Carolina Hurricanes on Sunday, a 4-1 loss for New Jersey. The Devils were also briefly without defenseman Luke Hughes, who left in the third period but was able to return.
New Jersey entered the postseason already undermanned. Top forward Jack Hughes, Luke’s brother, had season-ending shoulder surgery in March, and defenseman Jonas Siegenthaler is also not expected to be available in the first round.
Coach Sheldon Keefe remained optimistic though about one of the team’s latest injured bodies.
“(Dillon) was eager to get back out there,” Keefe said by way of an update. Doctors ultimately held Dillon out for “precautionary reasons.”
The veteran blueliner was taken to the ice by Carolina forward William Carrier battling in front of the Devils’ net. He remained down for several minutes before being helped off by New Jersey’s training staff.
It was a disastrous third period sequence that shortened New Jersey’s bench further. Hughes went flying into the Devils’ net after tripping over Hurricanes’ forward Andrei Svechnikov, and ran off the ice cradling his right arm. Then, Devils’ goaltender Jacob Markstrom accidentally clipped Glass with his stick while appearing to aim for Svechnikov. Glass left and did not return while Hughes finished the game.
New Jersey will have to wait and see who is available when they take on Carolina in Game 2 on Tuesday. For now, Keefe won’t let the Devils dwell on what they can’t control.
“To a man, myself included,” he said, “we’re all going to have to be better.”
-
Sports2 years ago‘Storybook stuff’: Inside the night Bryce Harper sent the Phillies to the World Series
-
Sports1 year agoStory injured on diving stop, exits Red Sox game
-
Sports1 year agoGame 1 of WS least-watched in recorded history
-
Sports2 years agoMLB Rank 2023: Ranking baseball’s top 100 players
-
Sports4 years ago
Team Europe easily wins 4th straight Laver Cup
-
Environment2 years agoJapan and South Korea have a lot at stake in a free and open South China Sea
-
Environment2 years agoGame-changing Lectric XPedition launched as affordable electric cargo bike
-
Business3 years agoBank of England’s extraordinary response to government policy is almost unthinkable | Ed Conway