Good Magic Colt Rings the Bell for Young Pinhookers

Picking your spots, whether buying or selling Thoroughbreds, is an art, and pinhookers Aidan and Hannah Jennings proved during the Fasig-Tipton July Sale they have a knack for choosing right. The couple that owns Killora Stud near Paris, Ky., celebrated a rich pinhooking score July 11 when a Good Magic colt they bought as a weanling for $49,000 became the second-highest-priced yearling sold at $370,000 during the one-day yearling sale. "The colt is pretty precocious, so we thought July was the right spot for him," said Hannah Jennings. "The sire did well getting the (Kentucky) Derby (G1) winner, and a Gun Runner that sold here last year brought $2.2 million in the (Ocala Breeders' Sales) April sale." "So we were pretty jazzed when all the pinhookers were on him," picked up Aidan Jennings about their Good Magic colt. "I've never had a horse this popular. We're over the moon." Padraig Campion's Blandford Stud consigned the Good Magic colt sold as Hip 175. This year is the third round of weanling-to-yearling pinhooks he's sold for the Jennings, who co-owned the July colt with Charles Hynes. "Aidan and Hannah are both savvy horse people, so they buy well," Campion said. "We thought the colt would fit here. Whenever you can be the big fish in a small pond it seems to work out, and this colt attracted a lot of interest. All the right people were on him." Agents Hunter Rankin and Stanley Hough bought Hip 175 on behalf of Travis Boersma's Boardshorts Stables. They bought one other horse during the sale, going to $125,000 for a Ghostzapper colt (Hip 245) out of the Graeme Hall stakes winner You Bought Her. Hip 245 was consigned by Funny Farm. Aidan Jennings, a native of Ireland, said they were fortunate to buy the Good Magic colt, whom they acquired at the Keeneland November Breeding Stock Sale from Vinery Sales' consignment. He is the first foal out of the Carpe Diem mare Scolding, who only won once, but by six lengths at Oaklawn Park. She would make only two other starts and not place after that. "The dam was very fast and won the first time out for (trainer, Steve) Asmussen. She looked like she could be anything but did not get the chance to fill that potential," he said. "Then the Good Magics, we were eager to get one last year but got outbid on most of them." It all finally came together at the Keeneland sale. "Then, we were hoping the stallion would keep on, so we were very lucky," he said. Good Magic did more than just "keep on." This year he's sired Kentucky Derby winner Mage; Los Alamitos Derby and Sham Stakes (G3) winner Reincarnate; Iowa Derby winner How Did He Do That; and Preakness Stakes (G1) runner-up Blazing Sevens. "I have been a believer in Good Magic since watching him win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1)," said Campion. "In my opinion, he was always going to be one of the top young sires in America."