Washington (AFP) - Kentucky Derby winner Mage will compete in next week's Preakness, giving the three-year-old chestnut colt a chance to sweep US horse racing's Triple Crown, his co-owners announced on Friday.
Mage won last Saturday's 1 1/4-mile showdown at Churchill Downs by a length over Two Phil's and will try to claim the second jewel of the treble on May 20 at Pimlico in Baltimore.
"We're thrilled to announce that Mage will be heading to the 148th running of the Preakness Stakes," co-owner Chase Chamberlain said.
Mage's trainer, Gustavo Delgado Jr., was pleased with what he saw from Mage in workouts this week at Churchill Downs.
"Very excited.He has had a magnificent week of training," said co-owner Ramiro Restrepo."Gustavo is really pleased and over the moon about how he has come back.
"He has shown all the positive signs so it's on to Baltimore and crab cakes.Here we come."
Jockey Javier Castellano, who won the Kentucky Derby for the first time in 16 attempts, will mount Mage once again for the Preakness.The 45-year-old Venezuelan won the Preakness in 2006 aboard Bernardini and in 2017 aboard Cloud Computing.
The Preakness offers the shortest race of the Triple Crown, with the longest being next month's 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes in New York.
In all, 13 horses have swept US flat racing's feature races in the same year, the most recent being Justify in 2018.
Mage is expected to be driven from Louisville, Kentucky, to Baltimore over the weekend ahead of a Monday workout.
