Airdrie lands Kentucky Derby winner Mage for stud duty upon retirement from racing

Airdrie Stud has announced that this year's Kentucky Derby winner Mage will stand at stud at the Kentucky nursery upon his retirement from racing.

Bred in Kentucky by Grandview Equine, Mage will continue to race for the ownership team of OGMA Investments, Ramiro Restrepo, Sterling Racing and Commonwealth Thoroughbreds. The son of leading second-crop sire Good Magic is currently being pointed for the Breeders' Cup Classic.

Mage is out of Grade 2-placed stakes winner Puca, who has been represented by black-type runners with each of her first three foals and a $1.2 million McKinzie colt at the recently concluded Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Puca is a half sister to Grade 1 winner Finnegans Wake, who also equalled the track record in the 2014 Hollywood Turf Cup Stakes when he went a mile and a half in 2:27.35 at Del Mar.

To date, Mage has earned $2,507,450 in a career that includes runner-up efforts in the Haskell Stakes and Florida Derby as well as a third-place finish in the Preakness Stakes.

"This is a very special day for Airdrie Stud," said Airdrie president Bret Jones. "It gives us tremendous pride to be able to announce the addition of a Kentucky Derby winner to our stallion roster, especially one as uniquely qualified to be a leading sire as Mage. He is the first brilliant son of one of the most exciting young sires in recent memory, and his dam is giving every indication that she will be a truly important mare.

"The talent and toughness required by Mage to break his maiden going seven furlongs in late January, give a seasoned champion like Forte all he can handle in the Florida Derby, and then win the Kentucky Derby in just his fourth career start is, by anyone's definition, absolutely extraordinary. We will forever be grateful to his incredible ownership group for this opportunity and the syndicate we will assemble to support him will be the strongest in Airdrie's history. He deserves it."

"I can't tell you what Mage has meant to all of us that have been so incredibly blessed to be associated with him," added co-owner Restrepo. "He's the horse of a lifetime. An impossible talent. What he has done, and will continue to do, for our team has been the dream of dreams. 

"We have endless respect for the incredible team at Airdrie Stud and will be proud to entrust them with his stallion career at the conclusion of his racing days. He is going to be very, very special for their farm – just as he has always been for us."

Good Magic, who stands at Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, is leading the second-crop sire class with $7,173,481 in progeny earnings. The son of Curlin, who also stands at Hill 'n' Dale, has been represented by two other graded stakes winners this year with recent Oklahoma Derby winner How Did He Do That and Sham Stakes winner Reincarnate, who also won the Los Alamitos Derby. He also sired Blazing Sevens, who placed in both the Preakness Stakes and Blue Grass Stakes.

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