After Winning Kentucky Derby, Mage Has Big Chance to Repeat in Preakness

There’s this narrative circulating among the chattering classes that I failed miserably once again as a public handicapper in the Kentucky Derby.

My top pick — Angel of Empire — finished a mere third, they scoff. And, sure, my second pick, Mage, rocketed past rivals like they were tied to fence posts en route to a dominant victory at odds of 15-1, but I had only listed him as an exotics play. And besides, they say, he was buried at the bottom of the column: Who even reads that far?