Million-Dollar Purchases Magic Time, Powerline Score

This column highlights the performances of 2- and 3-year-old maiden special weight winners (the latter age category only through June) with the potential for graded stakes success based on criteria such as a horse that has made no more than five starts and either sold for more than $500,000 at public auction, has siblings that are graded/group winners, or has a dam that is a graded/group winner. BloodHorse research shows maiden winners who meet these criteria are more likely to go on to be graded stakes winners. Juveniles Magic Time and Powerline are BloodHorse Maiden Watch Hot Prospects after promising victories last week. Powerline Scores Despite Slow Start Powerline overcame massive trouble to break his maiden Oct. 31 in the opening race on the Breeders' Cup undercard at Keeneland, delivering on the promise that made him a $1.8 million yearling purchase at Fasig-Tipton's The Saratoga Sale in upstate New York in 2025. The 2-year-old colt created his own challenges, starting sluggishly and then growing rank behind horses, but he sustained his catch-up bid, even after losing ground five wide on the turn under Flavien Prat. Most horses would flatten out after expending that much energy, but he kept going to defeat first-time starter Highwaymen by a length. Powerline ran 7 furlongs in a quick 1:22.26, only a half second slower than the winning time for Ways and Means in the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) a couple of hours later on the card. His time earned him a 101 Equibase Speed Figure and an 80 Beyer Speed Figure. He showed glimpses of his ability in two previous starts at Saratoga Race Course, finishing second in his July 18 debut before running fourth Aug. 22. He also showed slow-breaking tendencies before his latest start at Keeneland. Powerline's maiden-breaking performance marked a substantial step forward and offers an encouraging sign of what may lie ahead if he can break from the gate in a timely fashion. Few trainers are better at working on such issues than his Hall of Fame conditioner Steve Asmussen. His horses repeatedly school in the gate and the paddock. Bred in Kentucky by Summer Wind Equine and Sarah Farish, Powerline races for West Point Thoroughbreds, Summer Wind Equine, John Oxley, and Will Farish's Bee Zee. As a son of undefeated 2022 Horse of the Year Flightline, who carried his speed up to 1 1/4 miles, Powerline appears a candidate to stretch out, though his success at higher class levels will likely hinge on his ability to break with the field and relax. His dam, the Quality Road mare Park Avenue, won four of 14 races and made $330,887, becoming a stakes winner by taking the 2022 Ouija Board Distaff Stakes at a mile on turf at Lone Star Park. She also placed in the La Canada Stakes (G3) over 1 1/16 miles on dirt at Santa Anita Park. Powerline is her first foal to race. She also has a yearling colt by Flightline and foaled a filly by the sire earlier this year. Magic Time Breaks Through on Turf A change in surface and a stretch out in distance proved a winning combination for Magic Time in the ninth race Oct. 30 at Santa Anita Park, resulting in a 3 1/4-length maiden victory in a 1-mile turf maiden race. The 2-year-old colt, a son of elite sire Not This Time, earned a 96 Equibase Speed Figure and a 75 Beyer Speed Figure for completing the distance on firm ground in 1:35.63. Victor Espinoza rode for trainer Michael McCarthy. Owned by Bridlewood Farm, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, Bob LaPenta, and William and Suzanne Warren, Magic Time did little in his first career start, finishing ninth in a maiden special weight on dirt Sept. 7 at Del Mar. Bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, Magic Time was purchased for $1.15 million from the Summerfield consignment to the 2025 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Magic Time is out of Flash Magic, a daughter of Pioneerof the Nile who won once at 3 and 4, and earned $161,748. Her two foals to race—Magic Time and his older half sister Street Swindler (Candy Ride (ARG))—are both winners. Flash Magic is a half sister to Good Magic, winner of the 2017 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) and that year's champion 2-year-old male. The following year, he placed in the Kentucky Derby (G1) behind Triple Crown winner Justify and won the Haskell Invitational Stakes (G1).