First-crop sires: Good Magic has Hopeful candidate in Blazing Sevens

TwinSpires.com will follow prominent first-crop sires whose two-year-olds are hitting the track this season. We’ll kick off the series by highlighting the champion two-year-old colt of 2017, Good Magic.

Good Magic checks multiple boxes for stud appeal. A $1 million yearling, by a Hall of Famer and from a productive family, he developed into a champion juvenile and Grade 1-winning classic performer at three. He’s just the type to get two-year-olds with the scope to progress on the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Oaks (G1) trail.

Good Magic’s pedigree

Good Magic is a total product of Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings. Sire Curlin sported the Stonestreet silks, as did his dam, homebred Glinda the Good.

Read about Good Magic’s early life in his “Tales from the Crib”

Curlin, the 2007 Preakness (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) hero, two-time Horse of the Year, and $10.5 million-earner, has emerged as an outstanding sire. Some of Curlin’s best offspring are fillies, including three of this season’s stars – Clairiere, champion Malathaat, and Nest.

But Curlin is also a noted classic influence, siring Belmont (G1) scorer Palace Malice (2013) in his first crop and a fellow Preakness winner in Exaggerator (2016). Curlin is off to a terrific start as a sire of sires too. His Travers (G1)-winning son, Keen Ice, sired 2022 Kentucky Derby shocker Rich Strike.

Good Magic’s dam, multiple stakes winner and Grade 2-placed Glinda the Good, is a daughter of Curlin’s old Triple Crown rival Hard Spun. She is herself a half-sister to five stakes winners, from the family of reigning champion female sprinter Ce Ce.

Good Magic was offered as a yearling at Keeneland September, where he commanded $1 million from bloodstock guru Mike Ryan, agent for e Five Racing Thoroughbreds. Yet Stonestreet didn’t want to let him go entirely; his breeder stayed in for a part-interest.

Good Magic’s racing career

Considering that Good Magic was bred to excel with maturity, it’s a barometer of his talent that he became a champion two-year-old.

Read more about Good Magic’s racing career in the Brisnet.com archives

In his 6 1/2-furlong debut on 2017 Travers Day at Saratoga, he finished a promising second. Trainer Chad Brown pitched him straight into the Champagne (G1), and he proved his class when runner-up by just a half-length.

Good Magic was sure to blossom on the stretch-out, so Brown boldly decided that his two-turn debut might as well come in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). Good Magic promptly broke his maiden on the big stage, romping by 4 1/4 lengths and clinching the divisional Eclipse Award.

Although only third in his sophomore bow in the 2018 Fountain of Youth (G2), Good Magic moved forward substantially to win the Blue Grass (G2). In the first two jewels of the Triple Crown, he was the most significant challenger to eventual champion Justify. Good Magic gamely chased for the length of the Churchill Downs stretch when runner-up in the Kentucky Derby. At Pimlico, Good Magic changed tactics to take it to Justify early in the Preakness (G1), until succumbing late in a hard-trying fourth.

After Justify retired in midsummer, however, Good Magic stamped himself as the top sophomore still in training with a resounding Haskell (G1) victory. Unfortunately, his renaissance was short-lived. Good Magic was an uncharacteristic ninth in the Travers, exited with an illness, and retired with a record of 9-3-3-1, $2,945,000.

Good Magic’s winners so far

Standing alongside sire Curlin at Hill ‘n’ Dale, Good Magic commanded a $35,000 fee in his first two seasons, 2019 and 2020. That was trimmed to $30,000 in 2021 and 2022.

Good Magic had 102 first-crop yearlings go through the ring for an average of $144,133, according to Brisnet.com, with a top price of $775,000.

Blazing Sevens

Good Magic’s most exciting winner so far is Blazing Sevens, tabbed by Thoroughbred Daily News as a “TDN Rising Star” for his Saratoga debut.

Like his sire, Blazing Sevens is a Brown trainee. The 4.60-1 third choice in the first race on July 24, he stalked pacesetter Bourbon Bash (by freshman sire City of Light) and drew away with ease. Blazing Sevens coasted home by 6 1/4 lengths, covering six furlongs in 1:13.34 with Manny Franco. His time was good enough for an 87 Brisnet Speed rating, but that just scratches the surface of his potential.

The Sept. 5 Hopeful (G1) is a logical target, Brown told the New York Racing Association.

“The most likely thing would be to run him in the Hopeful, which would be my top choice,” the trainer said. “It just makes sense…

“He’ll appreciate a little extra distance, and then beyond that, I think he’s really a two-turn horse. I was impressed that he was able to win going six furlongs because that will be the last time he ever runs six furlongs, I’ll tell you that.”

Blazing Sevens was purchased for $225,000 as a Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling by Bradley Thoroughbreds, agent for owner Rodeo Creek Racing. He first sold for $140,000 as a newly-turned (“short”) yearling at Keeneland January. Bred by Tracy Farmer in Kentucky, Blazing Sevens is out of Trophy Girl, a Warrior’s Reward half-sister to Grade 1 turf winner King David.

Curly Jack

Good Magic’s first winner came at Churchill Downs on June 2, when Curly Jack wired his debut for Tom Amoss. The 4.20-1 second choice wasn’t quickest from the gate in the second race, but soon dashed up from his rail post to take command. Curly Jack spurted clear at the top of stretch en route to a four-length decision. He negotiated 5 1/2 furlongs in 1:04.28, notching an 86 Speed rating.

Curly Jack next tried the Sanford (G3) at Saratoga, where he again showed high speed, but couldn’t withstand unrelenting pressure from eventual winner Mo Strike. Tiring to fifth, Curly Jack nevertheless just about matched his maiden Speed figure by recording an 85.

Bred by Betz et al and purchased by Mike McLoughlin for $180,000 at Keeneland September, Curly Jack is a half-brother to Fannie and Freddie, who placed in the Silverbulletday S. and Untapable S. at the past Fair Grounds meet. They were produced by the Grade 1-placed Roman Ruler mare Connie and Michael, runner-up in the 2010 Mother Goose (G1).

Just Like Magic

Amoss sent out another Good Magic winner in Just Like Magic. Fourth on debut to next-out Schuylerville (G3) winner Just Cindy, Just Like Magic came right back to break her maiden at Churchill July 4.

Owned by Joel Politi, best known for campaigning 2019 Kentucky Oaks star Serengeti Empress, the 4.60-1 chance pressed the pace, put her head in front, and edged away. Just Like Magic held by three-quarters of a length while finishing six furlongs in 1:11.40, recording an 81 Speed figure.

Bred by Amy Bayle and Bloom Racing in Kentucky, the $100,000 Keeneland September yearling is out of stakes winner Flat Out Charming, by Flatter.

Vegas Magic

Unbeaten filly Vegas Magic has the distinction of being Good Magic’s first stakes winner, after beating the boys in the July 9 Everett Nevin S. at Pleasanton. She’s an early nominee to the Sept. 10 Del Mar Debutante (G1).

Bought by trainer Doug O’Neill for $100,000 at OBS in March, Vegas Magic has justified favoritism in both starts. She went off as the 7-10 choice in Santa Anita’s opener on June 11, chasing three-wide and staying on down the lane to prevail by a length. Vegas Magic earned an 87 Speed rating by clocking five furlongs in :59.12.

In her stakes appearance, Vegas Magic needed every bit of the 5 1/2 furlongs to get up at Pleasanton. The 13-10 favorite appeared to be spinning her wheels near the rear early, but scythed through the pack to get up by a nose. Her uninspiring time of 1:05.39 netted a 70 Speed figure, although the visual impression was more favorable.

Vegas Magic was bred in Kentucky by Machmer Hall and initially brought $130,000 at Keeneland September. Her dam, the Rockport Harbor mare Heidi Maria, was a two-time stakes winner at Northlands Park. Of greater interest, Heidi Maria is closely related to Grade 3 heroine and 2014 Acorn (G1) runner-up Sweet Whiskey.

Magic Glass

Trainer Mac Robertson purchased Magic Glass for $52,000, on behalf of Novogratz Racing Stables at Keeneland September, and the filly recently won at first asking at Canterbury. The 3.90-1 second choice in the July 30 opener rallied from well back, and in an eye-catching move, ran down the once-clear front runner by 1 1/2 lengths. Magic Glass negotiated five furlongs in :59.96, worth just a 73 Speed rating, but in a manner raising hopes of more to come.

The May 8 foal was produced by Majestic Heat, winner of the 2017 Bayakoa (G2) at Los Alamitos. The Unusual Heat mare is a full sister to multiple Cal-bred stakes scorer and Grade 1-placed Mensa Heat.

Quagmire Magic

Five of Good Magic’s winners have come in maiden special weights, leaving Quagmire Magic as the only one so far to score in a maiden claimer. But it was for a $50,000 tag at Los Alamitos, where he romped by six lengths and got claimed by trainer George Papaprodromou.

Quagmire Magic was risked in this June 25 debut by then-trainer and part-owner Peter Miller, who acquired him for $47,000 at OBS March. The colt was dispatched as the 11-10 favorite in the seventh race, and ran up to billing by arguing the pace and kicking away as much the best. Quagmire Magic, a son of Louisiana-bred stakes-placed Princess Samurai (by First Samurai), covered five furlongs in :58.58 to register a 77 Speed figure.

RELATED: Introducing the First-Crop Sires Series 2022

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