Without Justify, It's All 'Good'

“Inside the Winner's Circle, Presented by Keeneland” is a series showcasing graduates of the Keeneland September sale that have gone on to achieve success on racing's biggest stages.

It's rare that you could call the 2-year-old male champion “overshadowed” before he even makes his first start as a sophomore, but that was the case for e 5 Racing Thoroughbreds and Stonestreet Stables' Good Magic (Curlin) when he returned to the races early this March. A few weeks earlier, WinStar Farm, China Horse Club and SF Racing unveiled their highly-touted 3-year-old colt Justify (Scat Daddy) to a devastating maiden win at Santa Anita and the colt's trainer, Bob Baffert, threw gasoline on that fire by saying his goal was to get the potential superstar to the GI Kentucky Derby.

Good Magic started his campaign with a so-so third in the GII Fountain of Youth S. Mar. 3, and by the time the Derby rolled around, even with a victory in the GII Toyota Blue Grass S. added to his accomplishments, the colt was a virtual afterthought.

This was hard to imagine, for reasons going all the way back to when Good Magic sold for a cool $1 million to Edwards at Keeneland September in 2016 (click here to watch sales ring video). The yearling, bred and raised by Stonestreet, was quickly bought back into by the legendary outfit after e 5's Bob Edwards and his bloodstock agent Mike Ryan made the winning bid, showing confidence that their chestnut was destined for big things.

“Mike susses out horses for me, he's got the eye for talent that I do not have,” Edwards said. “Stonestreet talked to Mike and said, 'Look, if Bob buys this horse, we'd love to take half of it.'”

Spending that much money on a yearling, especially a colt, was a new frontier for Edwards. But taking that plunge was facilitated by knowing Stonestreet was invested in Hip 845's success.

“My typical business model is to buy well-bred fillies,” he said. “I go in on a colt every now and then, but obviously never a million-dollar colt. It was nice to have a partner behind me, and obviously they knew the horse well enough, and if they were going to back it up, that made it a lot easier.”

Good Magic debuted on the GI Travers S. undercard last August at Saratoga and ran second as the 3-4 favorite. With the big 2-year-old races quickly approaching as summer turned to fall, trainer Chad Brown decided that progressing the colt through his conditions was a luxury time couldn't afford, and entered him in the GI Champagne S. without a victory under his belt.

“That's kind of my history, I didn't win a traditional maiden until I won four stakes races, so the progressions that Chad has done for me over the last few years haven't been typical,” Edwards said. “If you're at Saratoga and you get a later start, it's tough to go conventional because the season kind of crams up at the end. We felt the horse was training really well and felt he deserved to be in that spot, and he showed everybody that he earned it.”

Running a bang-up second after tracking a scorching pace in the Champagne, Good Magic was sent on to the Breeders' Cup, where he scored an 11-1 upset and broke his maiden in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile. He entered the race winless and exited it the de facto 2-year-old champion.

Fast forward to the Kentucky Derby, where Good Magic tracked Justify and made a bold run at him on the far turn, to where the pair was practically insperable at the head of the stretch. The favorite asserted himself from there though, and kicked away to score by 2 1/2 lengths, with Good Magic just holding second over late-running Audible (Into Mischief).

Two weeks later in the GI Preakness S., he hooked up with Justify again, this time much earlier in the running, and the two sparred until deep stretch, when Justify edged away from his rival before holding off a pair of closers to set up his date with destiny in the GI Belmont S. Good Magic, after running bravely along the rail in the rain-soaked, fog-covered test, faded just a bit late to be fourth while beaten only a length on the wire. While beaten on the square by a generational talent, he acquitted himself very well in his two Triple Crown efforts.

“Any other year, we would've won at least one of those races,” Edwards said. “I couldn't have been happier. The horse has tremendous heart. His constitution, the way he trains, the way he shows up, the way he is mentally. He's almost like a puppy, you can walk right into his stall, you can take him out, you can pet him, you can sit down with him. There's something special about him that I haven't seen in the other horses that I've had, and I've had some really good luck. Whether it's the Hard Spun side, the Curlin side, that mix, it is magical.”

With his Triple Crown conqueror now retired, Good Magic had a chance to stamp himself as the 3-year-old to beat in the second half of the year Sunday at Monmouth Park and delivered in spades, scoring by an easy three lengths in the GI betfair.com Haskell Invitational. Once again, he finds himself at the top of the mountain, awaiting the next challenger.

“There's a little pressure,” Edwards said of his colt returning to that perch. “He's got to respond to what we ask him to do. He came out of the race great and he's in Chad's hands. My training license is long-expired, and I rely on Chad to campaign and position him properly. He's a taskmaster and a condition-book artist and he's looking at all these later races to figure out what the best fit for him is.”