2023 Kentucky Derby pedigree profile: Mage

Mage

Good Magic – Puca, by Big Brown

Bred in Kentucky by Grandview Equine ($235,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by New Team; $290,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic juvenile purchase by OGMA Investments)

Mage comes to this week’s Derby Watch Top 20 as a well-regarded candidate. Fourth behind Forte in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth in just his second career start, Mage got even closer to the champion in last Saturday’s Grade 1 Florida Derby, in fact getting first run on him with an eye-catching move on the far turn before being overhauled late to finish second. Mage is from the first crop of Good Magic, a promising young stallion from a classic sireline.

Good Magic won the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to earn a divisional Eclipse Award. The following year, he won the Blue Grass Stakes and Haskell Invitational, and along the way, finished a fine second in the Kentucky Derby to Triple Crown winner Justify.

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The young stallion was among the leaders of the 2022 freshman sire class, and is currently the sire of Grade 1 winner Blazing Sevens, who goes in Saturday’s Blue Grass; graded stakes winner and fellow Kentucky Derby hopeful Reincarnate; and graded stakes winners Curly Jack, Dubyuhnell, and Vegas Magic.

Good Magic is a son of two-time Horse of the Year and prominent classic sire Curlin, who notched a big accomplishment as a sire of sires in last year’s Triple Crown series. His classic-placed and Travers-winning son Keen Ice sired Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike from his first crop.

Good Magic’s dam, Puca, is a daughter of dual classic winner and champion Big Brown. She finished second in the Grade 2 Gazelle Stakes at 1 1/8 miles in the spring of her 3-year-old season and continued to be a productive racemare for a number of years, winning the Steve Pini Memorial at a mile and 70 yards on the Suffolk Downs turf as a 5-year-old.

Mage is Puca’s second foal. Her first, Gunning, was third in the seven-furlong Audubon Oaks last summer at Ellis Park and has won both her starts this season at Oaklawn Park.

Puca, out of the stakes-placed juvenile Boat’s Ghost, is a half-sister to millionaire Finnegans Wake. His five graded stakes wins routing on turf were highlighted by the Grade 1 Turf Classic at Churchill Downs.

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