Stonestreet hopes to play spoiler once again with Good Magic

BALTIMORE – While Stonestreet Stables has yet to win the Kentucky Derby, it has twice enjoyed success in the Preakness at the expense of a Kentucky Derby winner.

On Saturday at Pimlico Racecourse, when the Preakness is run for the 143rd time, Stonestreet, along with its partner Bob Edwards, will seek its third victory in this race while hoping to spoil the Triple Crown hopes of undefeated Derby winner Justify.

In 2007, Curlin, owned by Stonestreet and partners, finished third to Street Sense in the Kentucky Derby and came back to beat that horse by a head in the Preakness. Two years later, Stonestreet bought the filly Rachel Alexandra right after she won the Kentucky Oaks, and she came back on short rest to beat Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird in the Preakness.

Stonestreet, whose proprietor is Barbara Banke, is the breeder and part-owner of Good Magic, the champion 2-year-old male of 2017 who finished second to Justify in the May 5 Kentucky Derby. Good Magic is given the best – perhaps only – chance of derailing Justify’s Triple Crown bid Saturday.

“I think Justify is a great horse,” Banke said earlier this week. “I’m hoping he doesn’t do quite as well and we do a little bit better.”

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Curlin was the Justify of the 2007 Derby. Like Justify, Curlin didn’t debut until February and came into the Kentucky Derby undefeated in three starts. Curlin encountered traffic in the Derby and finished third, eight lengths behind Street Sense, the previous year’s 2-year-old champion.

“Poor horse got blocked at every turn and still managed to make it up and come in third,” Banke said.

In the Preakness, Curlin had a smoother trip, and though Street Sense made a bold move inside of Curlin to make the lead in midstretch, a resurgent Curlin ran him down by a head.

“I think I didn’t know enough to know about the shortness of the two weeks,” said Banke, whose husband, Jess Jackson, was the head of Stonestreet until his death in 2011. “It didn’t bother me particularly that we came back in two weeks. It was really great to see him win it. It was close. I was standing with Jess and he said, ‘He got it.’ ”

Curlin would go on to have a brilliant career, becoming the first Thoroughbred in North America to eclipse $10 million in career purse earnings and winning back-to-back Horse of the Year awards. Curlin has developed into one of North America’s top stallions and is the sire of Good Magic.

In 2009, Stonestreet won the Preakness again when Rachel Alexandra, purchased by Stonestreet following a 20 1/4-length victory in the Kentucky Oaks, went gate to wire from post 13, fending off a late run from Derby winner Mine That Bird.

“We knew we were the target running from post position 13,” Banke said. “We had an option, which was blow and go. That’s what we did, and it worked out.”

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Rachel Alexandra would complete an undefeated 2009 campaign – beating males three times – and be crowned Horse of the Year. She produced two foals before complications prevented her from being bred further. She resides at Stonestreet Farm in Lexington, Ky.

Good Magic is a Stonestreet homebred. He is by Curlin out of the stakes-winning mare Glinda the Good. Banke put Good Magic in the 2016 Keeneland yearling sale, and he was bought for $1 million by Edwards, who races under the banner e Five Racing.

Banke approached Edwards and bought back a half-interest in the colt.

“I put all the colts in there except the ones that have issues and can’t make it,” Banke said when asked why she initially sold Good Magic. “I’m running a breeding operation and it needs to be profitable. There should be a better way to do this, I’m just not smart enough.

“I like to have partners in the colts. Most of the time it doesn’t work out. When it does work out, it’s fine to have a partner.”

Good Magic was one of the horses training the best in the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby. He ran to his training, racing an up-close fifth early before making a run at Justify at the top of the lane. He had to settle for second, 2 1/2 lengths behind Justify and a head in front of Audible.

“I though his performance was great,” Banke said. “We didn’t know how he’d respond to the [sloppy] track.”

Banke likened the track condition at Churchill Downs on Derby Day to the one at Monmouth Park for the 2007 Breeders’ Cup when Curlin won the Classic. Banke said that the morning of the 2007 Classic she texted Scott Blasi, the assistant to Curlin’s trainer, Steve Asmussen, and asked, “How does he like the slop?” She said Blasi texted back: “I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

Fast forward to this year’s Kentucky Derby Day. Chad Brown, the trainer of Good Magic, texted Banke asking how progeny of Curlin like the slop.

She texted him a clip of the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic.

While Stonestreet is seeking its third Preakness victory, Brown is seeking his second straight. Last year, Brown won the Preakness with Cloud Computing off a six-week layoff, which he felt gave him an advantage over last year’s Derby winner, Always Dreaming.

This year, Good Magic is returning in two weeks just like Justify.

“We have to have Justify come back to us,” Brown said. “We have to hope that a horse that’s run a lot of races in a short amount of time, somehow with a little bit of regression we can close the gap on him. I do believe that will need to happen. If our horse can find a way to move forward a little bit more, maybe that is the scenario where we can get by him. But it’s easier said than done.”