At 15-1 odds, Mage wins the 149th Kentucky Derby

By Tate Luckey and Anthony Riley

With a time of 2:01:57, Mage, ridden by Venezuelan jockey Javier Castellano and trained by Gustavo Delgado, is the winner of the 149th Kentucky Derby. After a ten-day stretch that was riddled with a total of seven horse deaths and five scratches (including the favorite Forte), a crowd of over 150,000 came to see Castellano win his 1st Derby win of 16 attempts.

‘When I was in the jockey room and NBC put ‘0 for 15 Javier Castellano,’ at that moment it gives me so much inspiration myself, and this is going to be the year,” he said in a press conference Saturday evening. Castellano had previously won the Breeders Cup Classic in 2004, and the Preakness in 2006 and 2017.

Mage finished a length ahead of Two Phils who led 3rd place horse Angel of Empire by another half-length. The Preakness is set for May 20th, but it’s unclear if Mage will run. This marks the second time a horse from Venezuela has won the Derby since 1971 (Cañonero II).