Curlin’s classic blood keeps flowing through Good Magic

The magic long associated with one of America’s most prominent classic sirelines glittered through with Kentucky Derby winner Mage. He is by champion Good Magic, the latest wizard in this family, as the second son of two-time Horse of the Year Curlin in a row to sire the Derby winner from his first crop. The 2023 Triple Crown now moves on to the Preakness Stakes, a race with which this family has worked particular alchemy.

The tale of this sireline in Baltimore begins when Curlin, who had been third in the Kentucky Derby in just his fourth career start, turned the tables on Derby winner Street Sense with a head victory in the Preakness. It was the first of seven career Grade/Group 1 victories for the Hall of Famer. It also was the first of two Preakness wins for the late sire Smart Strike, whose champion son Lookin At Lucky captured the classic in 2010.

Curlin quickly established himself as a fellow classic sire, with 2013 Belmont winner Palace Malice in his first crop, and 2016 Preakness winner Exaggerator following a few years later. He has continued to show his consistency with 2018 Derby runner-up Good Magic, 2014 Preakness runner-up Ride On Curlin, 2018 Preakness third Tenfold, 2017 Belmont runner-up Irish War Cry, 2022 Belmont runner-up Nest, and 2015 Belmont third Keen Ice.

Some of those names have popped up again as Curlin has begun to establish himself as a sire of sires. Keen Ice was represented by last year’s Kentucky Derby upset winner Rich Strike in his first crop, while Exaggerator sired Belmont third Skippylongstocking. And quietly, Lookin At Lucky also continued to represent the Smart Strike line as a classic sire, with Country House promoted to victory in the 2019 Derby.

The Stonestreet Farm-bred Good Magic won the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to secure an Eclipse Award championship, and the following year, was a multiple Grade 1 winner, taking the Blue Grass and Haskell. Sandwiched between those, he was a fine second in the Kentucky Derby to Triple Crown winner Justify, then was fourth, beaten less than a length, in the Preakness after pressing Justify early.

Good Magic, now standing alongside Curlin at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm, was second to Bolt d’Oro on last year’s freshman sire earnings list, but tied both Bolt d’Oro and thirdplace Justify with six stakes winners apiece. His son Blazing Sevens ran Beyer Speed Figures of 91 in winning the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes and 93 while finishing fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Those performances helped Good Magic lead the freshman class on the Beyer Sire Performance Standings, Daily Racing Form’s exclusive stallion metrics. His progeny recorded 12 Beyers of 80 or higher, a benchmark for juveniles, to eight each for Bolt d’Oro and Justify.

This year, Good Magic has kicked away from his foes on the second-crop earnings list, thanks largely to Mage, who, after a debut win, was fourth and second to champion Forte in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth and Grade 1 Florida Derby, then won the Kentucky Derby in just his fourth outing. Good Magic also will be represented in the Preakness by Blazing Sevens and stakes winner Perform. They join his other first-crop standouts in graded stakes winners Curly Jack, Dubyuhnell, Reincarnate, and Vegas Magic, and stakes winners Bat Flip and How Did He Do That.

Good Magic will not be the only classic-placed son of Curlin represented in Saturday’s Preakness, as Coffeewithchris is by Ride On Curlin.

Candy Ride on a Preakness roll

Two editions of the Preakness in a row have been won by grandsons of perennial leading sire Candy Ride. First, 2021 Preakness winner Rombauer was sired by Twirling Candy, who stands alongside sire Candy Ride at Lane’s End Farm. And last year, Early Voting was a breakthrough first-crop winner for the phenomenally successful young sire Gun Runner, the 2017 Horse of the Year standing at Three Chimneys.

Gun Runner goes for two in a row – and another success for the sireline – this Saturday as Winchell homebred Red Route One goes in the Preakness. The colt earned an automatic berth in the race by winning the Bath House Row at Oaklawn.

Rooney breeds classic horse

Coffeewithchris, who is trying to become the first Maryland-bred in four decades to win his birth state’s biggest race, has already been a breakthrough horse for current National Thoroughbred Racing Association president and CEO Tom Rooney, as the first stakes winner he has bred.

Rooney’s family owns Shamrock Farm in Woodbine, Md., established in 1948 by his grandfather Art Rooney. Tom Rooney, who was named to his position at the NTRA in the fall of 2021, also owns Moon Tower Ranch in Indiantown, Fla. Tom Rooney claimed the Outflanker mare Andiemac toward the end of her career and has bred her to Florida stallions. Coffeewithchris, by 2014 Preakness runner-up Ride On Curlin, is Andiemac’s second foal and was delivered in Maryland to support that state’s programs.

The young horse was a $2,000 purchase by trainer John Salzman Jr. out of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale in Timonium, Md., and now races for Salzman, Fred Wasserloos, and Anthony Geruso. He won the 2022 Heft Stakes and this February’s Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel, and owns three other career stakes placings.

Link to Man o’ War

National Treasure is considered one of the primary challengers to Kentucky Derby winner Mage in the Preakness Stakes. Passing on the Kentucky Derby worked out well for one of the most prominent names deep in National Treasure’s family. His female line traces directly to Masda, full sister to the great Man o’ War, who skipped the 1920 Kentucky Derby before dominating the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

National Treasure, by Quality Road and out of the Medaglia d’Oro mare Treasure, was bred by Peter Blum and was a $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling purchase to race for a multi-pronged partnership headed by SF Racing, Starlight Racing, and Madaket Stables.

Treasure’s ninth dam is Masda, by Fair Play and out of Mahubah, foaled in 1915, two years before the same pairing would produce Man o’ War. Masda, often described as fast but flighty and unfocused, was third in the Fashion Stakes as a juvenile and won the White Plains and The Leviathan Heavyweight as a 4-year-old.

As a broodmare, she produced nine foals, with a handful of stakes performers. Her most noteworthy contribution to the stud book came via her daughter Incandescent, who produced Igual, dam of 1946 Triple Crown winner Assault.