Brown: 'I love what I see' in Preakness 2018's Good Magic

Trainer Chad Brown had not seen Good Magic since he left his Belmont Park barn early Monday morning on a van bound for Pimlico Race Course. On Friday morning, the two-time Eclipse Award winning trainer was reunited with the Kentucky Derby runner-up and was delighted in what he saw when he laid eyes on the son of Curlin, the second choice in the 2018 Preakness Stakes.

“I love what I see,” a relaxed and smiling Brown said after Good Magic jogged over the sloppy track. “The horse’s weight continues to hold very well. I just decided to jog the horse this morning. He’s had three good gallops over an off track here at Pimlico…. He’s very fit. He looks fit. As you can see, as he came off the gap, he’s full of himself. His energy level is where we want it to be.”

Brown, who won his first Preakness last year with Cloud Computing, knows Good Magic, who was beaten 2 1/2 lengths by Justify in the Kentucky Derby on a sloppy and sealed track, will need to fire his best to turn the tables on his rival. And Brown noted that the near-certainty of an off track is not the optimal situation to achieve a different result.

“We’re looking to make up a couple of lengths on this horse, for sure, or more,” Brown said. “I feel like the off track is really a push for both horses. That’s not one area where we are probably going to make up the difference. I would like to see a dry track just for the sake of something different. A different scenario that maybe we can improve on a little bit. 

“There’s still the opportunity here to close the gap on [Justify],” he added, “if our horse moves forward and this horse regresses in anyway. [Regression] is a lot to ask for a horse like Justify who has moved forward with every one of his starts. You have to be optimistic that you have a situation where you might be able to make up some ground on him. He’s going to have five races in just over 12 weeks, which is hard to do. And we’re going to have three races in six weeks, which is hard to do. We have our work cut out for us. But our horse is doing very well.”

Brown believes Justify and his rider, Mike Smith, who drew Post 7, are in a sweet spot to spurt away to an early and unpressured lead. Good Magic, with Jose Ortiz aboard, drew Post 5.

“I feel like Justify drew a really good post position where he is — he’s outside and away from everybody and he doesn’t really have anybody to put any pressure on him,” Brown remarked. “That’s another tall order to overcome.”

When asked if Good Magic would be the one applying the pressure on Justify, if that scenario occurred, Brown responded, “I’m just going to leave it up to the jockey and see. Once the gate opens, you know, it’s out of my hands. Jose and Good Magic get along very well. Jose has very good judgment. I just hope he doesn’t let [Justify] get too far away which, with a clean break, he shouldn’t.”