Brown 'cautiously optimistic' about Good Magic's Blue Grass chances
Chad Brown, coming off two consecutive years that earned him the Eclipse Award as outstanding trainer, was at Keeneland for the first time this season Friday morning to oversee the training of his stable that includes champion and Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes favorite Good Magic.
“The horse looks great,” Brown said about the Curlin colt, who races for e Five Racing Thoroughbreds and Stonestreet Stables. “He’s very healthy, traveling really well over the track. We feel he’s a fitter, stronger horse the second start of the year, so we’re cautiously optimistic that he’ll run a really good race tomorrow.”
The $1 million Blue Grass will mark the second race of the year for Good Magic, who was third in the March 3 Fountain of Youth (G2) at Gulfstream Park. He drew post 11 in the 14-horse field for tomorrow’s 1 1/8-mile race.
“Not ideal, but it’s the luck of the draw,” Brown said about the post for the $1 million Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase. “He’s a very talented horse; hopefully, he’ll overcome that and work out a good trip.”
On Friday about 9:15 a.m., Good Magic visited the Paddock and galloped on the main track for the second consecutive morning.
Good Magic is among the 10 horses Brown has entered this weekend at Keeneland. His stakes action begins Friday with William H. Lawrence’s Analyze It, who is making his 2018 debut in the Kentucky Utilities Transylvania (G3).
On Saturday, two races before the Toyota Blue Grass, Brown will send out Alpha Delta Stables’ multiple graded stakes winner Lewis Bay in the Madison (G1). The 5-year-old Bernardini mare is coming off a runner-up finish in Gulfstream Park’s Royal Delta (G3) on Feb. 19.
“Really an evenly matched field,” Brown said. “There are some really talented fillies in the race. Several in there I could see on their best day winning – she’s one of them. Hopefully, she can work out a trip and run her best race.”
On Sunday, Brown will send out e Five’s undefeated Rushing Fall in the Appalachian (G2) Presented by Japan Racing Association. The race marks the 2018 debut for the 3-year-old More Than Ready filly, who last won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) at Del Mar.
“She drew a really good post (two),” Brown said. “She’s coming along well. We’re excited to get her started this year.”