Danny Gargan on the Good Magics
He trains Dornoch, Society Man, and Dubyuhnell
By Sid Fernando
Trainer Danny Gargan is already at Churchill Downs with his Kentucky Derby-bound colts Dornoch and Society Man. The former was fourth in the G1 Blue Grass at Keeneland last Saturday and the latter was second in the G2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on the same day. Both 3-year-olds are by Hill ‘n’ Dale’s Good Magic, a champion son of the farm’s kingpin, Curlin. Good Magic is the sire of Mage, last year’s Derby winner, from his first crop.
Dornoch is Good Magic’s second-crop brother to Mage—both are out of the Big Brown mare Puca—but looks nothing like him, Gargan said by phone Thursday afternoon. “They’re exact opposites. Dornoch is a real big, tall, long-legged horse. He looks like his mare more, he looks more like Big Brown. He’s a big, imposing horse.”
Ironically, Society Man is the one that resembles Mage, Gargan noted. “Society Man is smaller and looks more like Mage or Good Magic. I’d say he looks just like Good Magic.”
It’s forgotten these days that Gargan also trains the Good Magic first-crop colt Dubyuhnell, who won the G2 Remsen at Aqueduct in 2022, the same race in which Dornoch defeated Blue Grass winner Sierra Leone in 2023.
“He is a smaller, stocky horse, and he looks like Mage and Good Magic, too,” Gargan said. “I’ve only had three colts by Good Magic, but each one is a stakes horse.”
Gargan said he saw Good Magic train and race with Chad Brown, and he became a fan of the horse from early on. “I was really high on him as a racehorse. I trained at Saratoga and I’ve always watched him. I think that Chad is a tremendous horseman, and I thought Good Magic was a really, really nice horse. When his first crop of yearlings started to sell, I thought they were selling for a little under-appreciated value. I kind of look for first-year horses that I can afford. For instance, the only reason I’m a horse trainer is because of Kitten’s Joy. I bought a bunch of them when I first started, and that’s where I got the money to start training, because I actually owned a few of them, and sold ’em, and made money. I just took a chance on Good Magic and it worked out. You know, not everyone I’ve liked has worked out, but he did.”
Gargan readily gives credit to the purchases of Dubhyuhnell (owned by West Paces Racing and Stonestreet), Dornoch (West Paces Racing, R.A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding, Two Eight Racing, and Pine Racing Stables), and Society Man (West Paces Racing, Danny Gargan, and GMP Stables) as a team effort with Oracle Bloodstock, which signed the sales tickets for all three. “It’s a group effort with Oracle. But I’m at the sales and I look at every horse we buy.”
Dubyuhnell, who was bred by Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet, sold for $400,000 at Keeneland September, with Banke staying in on the colt. Gargan said the 4-year-old will target a turf allowance at Churchill on May 9. He’s a Grade 2 winner of three of eight starts and $282,590.
Dornoch, a Grade 2 winner of three of six starts and $552,275, sold for $325,000 at Keeneland September. He was bred by Grandview Equine, also the breeder of Mage. Puca, their dam, sold for $2.9 million at Keeneland November to newcomer John Stewart and recently foaled a colt by Good Magic.
Society Man, a Grade 2-placed winner of one race from five starts and $196,705, was the cheapest of the three, selling for $85,000 at Keeneland. He was bred by SF Bloodstock, which races in partnership the Good Magic Grade 3 winner Reincarnate, a $775,000 Keeneland yearling trained by Bob Baffert (who also trains the Good Magic G1 Arkansas Derby winner Muth, a $2 million OBS March 2-year-old).
All told, Good Magic is the sire of 17 black-type winners so far through two crops of racing age (excluding current juveniles), and he stands for $125,000. Aside from Mage and Muth, he’s also the sire of 2-year-old Grade 1 winner Blazing Sevens, who was beaten only a head by National Treasure in last year’s Preakness. That’s a head that kept his sire from getting two first-crop Classic winners.
Like his sire, Good Magic is compiling an envious resume of runners that are suited for the Classics, and that’s something Gargan is counting on. “They’re precocious, and they go long. In time, he’s going to be one of the best sires in the country.”
Gargan said Dornoch’s change of tactics in the Blue Grass was a deliberate move to get the colt to the Derby in the best possible way.
“They went fast early in the race, with the pacemaker in there. If he’d been on the lead, he’d have had to go :45 and change. I didn’t want to fry him and ruin him to win the Blue Grass. We’re trying to get him to win the Derby, and we wanted to educate him. The Derby is gonna have 20 horses.”
Gargan said he took a chance with Society Man in the Wood because he’d won his maiden race at a mile one start before with a “good sheets figure,” and “the Good Magics stay.”
That’s becoming increasingly obvious.
The best breeding “inside look, behind the scenes” profile of the business. I really enjoy and appreciate these updates. Learning a bunch 👍
Danny's a Great Horseman and knows his way around this industry! Remember him from Tampa 20 years ago as a Jockeys Agent and he was great at that too!!!