Ahead of trainer, Good Magic starts race prep

A year ago, assistant trainer Jose Hernandez came to Baltimore with Cloud Computing a couple of days ahead of his boss, trainer Chad Brown. Hernandez arrived earlier this week with Good Magic, getting to town Monday in advance of Tuesday morning’s first workout at Pimlico Race Course.

A year after watching Cloud Computing go off as a 13-1 long shot and chase down Classic Empire to win, Brown and Hernandez are back with a better horse. Good Magic, the Kentucky Derby runner-up, has the second-best odds of the eight participants and is considered the only horse with a legitimate shot to beat Justify.

Hernandez liked what he saw from Good Magic during the brisk Tuesday morning workout he put the horse through.

“I thought the horse trained really well, handled the track really well, too, and he came in in good shape,” Hernandez said. “Galloped him a little more than a mile and a quarter. He likes [the track].”

Asked what he thought he needed to do to help Good Magic beat the overwhelming favorite Saturday, Hernandez said: “Keep him happy and sound. I saw him in his stall this morning. He was happy. ready.”

Can you compare the two horses?

“Don’t get me wrong, Justify is a nice horse, but this is a nice horse, too, and we’ll what happens,” Hernandez said.

Exercise rider Walter Malasquez doesn’t think Good Magic’s ride in the Kentucky Derby wore him out.

“No difference. It’s still the same horse he was in think we’re Kentucky. Nothing changed,” Malasquez said after the workout.

Asked to judge the horse’s energy lever heading into Saturday’s race compared with what it was going into Churchill Downs two weeks ago, Malasquez said: “I expect his level to be a little down after the [Kentucky Derby]. He was the same. I was surprised the horse came out of the race like that.”

Malasquez, 31, started as Good Magic’s exercise rider last summer, first in Saratoga and then regularly in the lead-up to the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, where Good Magic won the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Good Magic also won this year’s $1 million Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland in April.

While much of the horse’s “quiet” nature has remained the same, “he’s a little more focused now,” Malasquez said. “He know[s] what he has to do.”