Good Magic – 2017 Champion Two-Year-Old Male

A single victory during the season, albeit in the division’s signature event, was enough for Good Magic to get the nod over multiple Grade 1 winner Bolt d’Oro in a hotly contested race for 2017’s leading juvenile male.

A maiden with two starts under his belt entering the November 4 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Del Mar, Good Magic was sent off at 11-1 while Bolt d’Oro, the 7-10 favorite, owned the home court advantage having captured his debut and Del Mar Futurity (G1) at the San Diego-area course, and later, the FrontRunner (G1) at Santa Anita in more dominating fashion.

While that rival endured a less-than-ideal trip from a wide draw, Good Magic was prominently placed from the start, surged to the lead in upper stretch and won for fun by more than four lengths for the partnership of E Five Racing Thoroughbreds and Stonestreet Thoroughbreds, who bred the colt in Kentucky, and trainer Chad Brown.

Good Magic had previously been an odds-on choice in his August 26 debut at Saratoga over 6 1/2 furlongs, but chased the winning Hazit from second throughout. Six weeks later in the Champagne (G1) at Belmont Park over a mile, Good Magic took a brief lead in mid-stretch before Firenze Fire caught him late. It was yet another runner-up placing for the eventual champion, who missed by a half-length.

A $1 million Keeneland September yearling, Good Magic earned $1,216,600 during his freshman campaign. He’s by dual Horse of the Year and former leading-money winner Curlin and out of Glinda the Good, a multiple stakes-winning Hard Spun half-sister to Grade 3 winner Take the Ribbon and stakes scorers Flash Forward, Flash Mash, Hot War, and Bright Magic.

This extended female family also includes multiple Grade 1 winner Magical Maiden, the dam of Grade 1 heroine Miss Houdini and the second dam of multiple Grade 2 winner Papa Clem.