For Immediate Release – Oklahoma City, OK, September 26, 2023 – Kentucky Derby runner-up Good Magic hasn’t exactly cruised up the top national sires’ ladder at No. 24, but he certainly produced a sharp prospect in the sprinter ranks with Good Like Magic, winner of the $75,000 Kip Deville Stakes on Sunday at Remington Park.
Good Magic proved he could get a route of ground when he won the Blue Grass Stakes, Haskell Stakes and ran second to Triple Crown winner Justify in the 2018 Kentucky Derby. Good Like Magic found six furlongs to his liking, winning the Kip Deville in 1:11.33 over a fast track under the guidance of jockey Flavien Prat. Prat is the winner of four Breeders’ Cup races, the 2021 Preakness Stakes with Rombauer, and winner of the 2019 Kentucky Derby aboard Country House. He won his run for the roses through a disqualification of Maximum Security.
Prat, aboard Good Like Magic, showed why he was No. 2 in the country in jockeys’ earnings last year with more than $35 million in horses’ earnings, second to only Irad Ortiz. Prat broke like a bullet from the gate with Good Like Magic, but was saving horse for the stretch the entire way. He set the early fractions with the juvenile son of Good Magic, out of the Aldebaran mare Star Silver, going a quarter-mile in :22.29, the half-mile in :45.88 and five-eighths in :58.40.
Good Like Magic was the only win on the card for the nation’s top trainer in earnings, Brad Cox. Cox’s horses have earned more than $22 million to Steve Asmussen’s $21 million this year. They collided in several Oklahoma Derby Day races. Cox won the Kip Deville Stakes with this Good Magic colt while Asmussen won the Oklahoma Derby with another Good Magic colt, How Did He Do That.
Good Magic is a son of two-time Horse of the Year, Curlin, who retired in 2008 as the top money earner in North America with $10.8 million in earnings. So, the bloodlines are rich. Good Magic stands for a $50,000 stud fee. He sired this year’s Kentucky Derby winner Mage.
Prat knew good things were in store from the start of the Kip Deville.
“He got a good jump out of there and we got good position,” Prat said of Good Like Magic. “When it was time to make a run he responded.”
Good Like Magic has now won two of his three starts, losing only to General Shipman at Prairie Meadows in Altoona, Ia., by three-quarters of a length in the $100,000 Prairie Meadows Freshman Stakes at six furlongs on Aug. 26. General Shipman was entered in the Kip Deville on Sunday, but was an early scratch.
Good Like Magic went off as the 3-5 betting favorite and returned $3.20 to win, $2.20 to place and $2.10 to show. He beat runner-up Classic Rick (12-1) by 2-3/4 lengths, who was another half-length ahead of third-place finisher Power Slam (10-1).
The winner earned $45,000 from the $75,000 purse and improved to three starts, two wins and one third for total earnings of $77,700. It was the first win in this stakes series for all the connections.
Good Like Magic was bred in Kentucky by Betz Thoroughbreds and Peter Lamantia.
Past the first three finishers, the rest of the field finished with Third Street (8-1) in fourth, Tigers ‘n Bears (8-1) fifth, Magical Mark (7-2) sixth, Frankensteiner (75-1) seventh, and Wreck It (58-1) eighth.
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Remington Park has provided more than $331 Million to the State of Oklahoma general education fund since the opening of the casino in 2005. Located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District, Remington Park is home to the Grade 3 Oklahoma Derby and the Grade 3 Remington Park Oaks on Sunday, Sept. 24, 2023. Remington Park presents simulcast racing daily and non-stop casino gaming. Parking and admission are always free. Must be 18 or older to wager on horse racing or enter the casino gaming floor. Visit remingtonpark.com for more information.
