Good Magic; winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile

by Alastair Bull

When a good two-year-old’s sire and damsire both ran brilliantly in the Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic, you’ve got to feel confident about their ability to stay 1 1/4 miles.

That’s exactly the formula in evidence with Good Magic, who broke his maiden with a 4 1/4-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Del Mar November 4.

He won by getting out of the gate well, settling just off the pace, and then accelerating away in the stretch – all great traits as a racehorse.

Victory in the $2 million Juvenile means Good Magic has already paid off the $1 million he cost as a yearling at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. He was bought by E5 Racing, which is racing him with his breeder Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings.

Good Magic’s sire and damsire were both significant players in the 2007 Kentucky Derby. He’s by Curlin, third in that Derby behind Street Sense, out of a mare by Hard Spun, the second-place finisher. Later in the year, Curlin finished first and Hard Spun second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Curlin won five times at 1 1/4 miles, adding the Jaguar Trophy (a prep for the Dubai World Cup), the Dubai World Cup itself, and two Jockey Club Gold Cups to his Breeders’ Cup Classic. At stud he’s been more than capable of producing 1 1/4-mile horses, including Kentucky Derby runner-up Exaggerator, Travers Stakes winner Keen Ice, and Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice.

Hard Spun has also proved more than able to sire stamina horses, his progeny including Hard Aces, a graded stakes winner from 1 1/4 miles to 1 1/2 miles; the top filly Hard Not to Like; and Ertijaal, winner of the 1 1/4-mile Cape Derby in South Africa.

Good Magic’s dam, Glinda the Good, was a stakes winner herself, taking the one-mile Instant Racing Stakes at Oaklawn Park and one-mile Island Fashion Stakes at Sunland Park as a three-year-old. She also finished third in the Pocahontas Stakes (G3) at two. Her dam, the Miswaki mare Magical Flash, has produced five stakes winners apart from Glinda the Good, the most notable being Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G3) winner Take the Ribbon. Magical Flash is a half-sister to three stakes winners, including Magical Maiden, a multiple Grade 1 winner who finished third in the 1992 edition of the 1 1/8-mile Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Good Magic’s pedigree suggests he has a better chance of staying 1 1/4 miles than most, and his race efforts suggest he’s on the improve. He is worth watching closely on next year’s Kentucky Derby trail.

Additional Prep Race Pedigree Profiles:
BULL: Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere, Happily
BULL: Iroquois Stakes, The Tabulator
BULL: FrontRunner Stakes, Bolt d'Oro
BULL: Beresford Stakes, Saxon Warrior (JPN)