High hopes for champion Good Magic at stud

Eclipse Award champion Good Magic has 81 first-crop yearlings cataloged at the Keeneland September yearling sale, the same auction at which he himself drew a seven-figure hammer price as a youngster.

But John Sikura, president of Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm, which stands Good Magic alongside his sire, Curlin, knows that the true proving ground is still a year or more off.

“The most important thing is that he gets runners,” Sikura said. “His foals sold very well.

“We hope [the yearlings] sell well, but more importantly, we hope they run well. All you can do is have a representative crop on the ground, and they either run or they don’t. It’s like sending your kids away to college – you can’t do their grades. Now we’ll see what happens.”

Good Magic was bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbreds and purchased for $1 million by e Five Racing at the 2016 Keeneland September yearling sale. Stonestreet then came back in for a piece of the colt to co-campaign him. After finishing second in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park, Good Magic shipped across the country to win his maiden in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar, securing himself the divisional trophy.

The following year, Good Magic won the Grade 1 Haskell Invitational and Grade 2 Blue Grass. He also was a hard-fought second to Triple Crown winner Justify in the Kentucky Derby.

“He’s everything you could want in a horse,” Sikura said.

Good Magic is averaging $170,783 with his yearlings, against a conception stud fee of $35,000.

“I would describe them as having a lot of the same characteristics as Curlin, but maybe a touch more refinement,” said Mark Taylor of major consignor Taylor Made Sales. “Curlin throws a brute, really strong, with a lot of power. . . . I think Good Magic has that, [but] his babies are a little less bulky, a little more streamlined.”