Preakness Stakes: Live Updates: Added another death to Triple Crown Cloud as Mage seems to keep running
They came from the owners’ suites, the second floor of the grandstand, the railing. From California and Michigan and beyond. They didn’t want to miss this moment. Their horse had just won the Kentucky Derby and the winner’s circle beckoned.
Among those wearing white Mage hats were Brian Doxtator and Chase Chamberlin, whose Commonwealth app allows fans to buy stock in racehorses like Mage for as little as $50. Soon, stock in up-and-coming golfers will be offered. It takes about 60 seconds to invest in an athlete the first time, and about 30 seconds after that. Think part fantasy football, part investing, part pure fun.
“Yes, we’re a technology platform and we’re selling stock and you could potentially make money, but what we’re really doing is we’re building a community of really passionate sports fans,” Doxtator said. “We call them the Big Day Out crowd — people who when they’re going to do something, they call five of their friends.”
Commonwealth and its users own 25 percent of Mage; the trainer Gustavo Delgado Sr., the bloodstock agent Ramiro Restrepo and the real estate investor Sam Herzberg own the rest. Before the $3 million Derby, a $50 share brought in $95 after tax. While that doesn’t seem like much, especially when a $50 bet to win on the 15-1 Mage would have paid $810.50, investors have earned on every race he has run and will receive a percentage of what is likely a multimillion dollar breeding deal. They also have behind-the-scenes access to the horse and its training regimen and the opportunity to attend practices and races.
Doxtator and Chamberlin grew up in Kalamazoo, Michigan, and attended Western Michigan University. Doxtator, who now lives in Los Angeles, went to a car auction and saw a company selling stock in cars. He was intrigued by the idea and started thinking about ways to improve on that concept. Then he went to the Santa Anita circuit. Days later, he sent a message to his old friend Chamberlin, a lifelong horseman who had moved to Lexington, Ky.
“We thought of the horse racing public as a bull’s-eye,” said the 40-year-old Doxtator. “You have the core audience in the middle. Then you’re out of one ring and it’s the casual fan who maybe goes to the races a little bit, pays attention, and then you’re out of another ring, and you’ve got people who pretty much just watch the Derby and have never really been to rail. You put those two outer rings together, and if you can convert even 5 to 10 percent of that, that’s a game changer for horse racing.
Doxtator and Chamberlin launched the app in early 2021, and by the summer they partnered with WinStar Farm and offered shares in Country Grammer, which went on to win the $12 million Dubai World Cup in 2022. They also partnered with top blood agents, and so on they came into contact with Restrepo and ingested part of Mage.
About 80 of the 382 people who invested in Mage through Commonwealth were at the Derby. And so that melting pot of a group of Mage rode straight into the winner’s circle on the first Saturday in May, leading to arguably the biggest winner’s circle celebration in Derby history – even Mage looked tiny in the middle of it.
“It’s one of those weird things that you don’t want to talk about too much because you don’t want to curse yourself or anything, but we told people if we win you just have to go,” Chamberlin, 32, said. . “You’ve got your Commonwealth pin on. No one will stop you.”
One of the Commonwealth investors was Norma Barnes-Euresti of Battle Creek, Michigan. When her wheelchair got stuck on the track, Gerardo Corrales and Jose Ortiz, who had just raced in the Derby, carried her the rest of the way.
“I have no legs today, but I got the ride of my life,” she said on NBC, speaking of the kindness of the jockeys and, of course, her Triple Crown contender Mage.
The winner’s circle experience was the lasting memory of that day for Doxtator and Chamberlin. About 100 investors will attend the Preakness.
“I’ll never forget standing there and watching Mage start to push his way forward and everyone saying, ‘Hey, you need to be here for the shot,’ and out of the corner of my eye I see this crowd of people all with wizard hats,” Doxtator said. “That was a surprise to me. And I thought, ‘Oh, great, the crew is coming in here.’ It was such a moment for us and I will cherish that photo forever.”
Chamberlin said, “Honestly, I look back and see a $50 shareholder who somehow got their hands on the trophy, and another woman who leaves with roses, and it’s like that’s pretty hallowed ground. “
On Saturday, the oldest investor in Mage – Chamberlin’s 89-year-old grandfather, Gordon Chamberlin – will attend. He watched the Derby with Chamberlin’s father, Mike, another investor, in Michigan, and the two sobbed when Mage won. It was then that the elder Chamberlins knew they had to be with the Preakness.
And this time, one thing will be different: the unlikely owners will all be sitting together on the grass side terrace in the infield, and they will have a clear path to the winner’s circle.