Pedigree Profile: Mage

Mage is the latest proof that his mitochondrial family bears repeating

No matter how you look at it, Kentucky Derby winner Mage has a fantastic pedigree, and one with plenty of history in the Triple Crown. His sire, Good Magic, was runner-up behind Justify in the 2018 Kentucky Derby, and his grandsire, Curlin, was third in the 2007 Kentucky Derby. Like Curlin, Mage came into the Kentucky Derby with just three prior starts, and none as a two-year-old, but he was able to do what even his exalted grandsire couldn’t in winning the Run for the Roses.

Good Magic has hit the ground running with his first crop, with G1 Champagne Stakes winner Blazing Sevens last year and seven other stakes winners to date, including four other graded stakes winners. Mage’s Kentucky Derby win helped him to secure the top spot on the second crop sire list after being the second-leading first-crop sire last year behind Bolt d’Oro.

While Curlin has three other sons to sire G1 winners, Good Magic is unique among them as a horse who was a G1 winner at both two and three, and I believe this contributes to his success as a sire. Curlin is known for getting later-developing horses, which doesn’t always translate to success in the breeding shed, but it would seem Good Magic got a nice dose of speed and precocity from his dam, Glinda the Good, a daughter of the speedy Hard Spun who was multiple stakes placed at two and a two-time stakes winner early in her sophomore season.

The bottom half of Mage’s pedigree also introduces plenty of quality. His dam, Puca, was highly regarded enough as a two-year-old to be entered in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies off just a maiden win, and she didn’t embarrass herself when running sixth in there, beaten just three lengths by Take Charge Brandi. She was on the Kentucky Oaks trail as a three-year-old and earned her first black type when finishing second in the G2 Gazelle Stakes. Although she fared poorly in the Kentucky Oaks, she would win three more races in her career at ages four and five, including a win in the Steve Pini Memorial Stakes at Suffolk Downs. Incidentally, the horse that finished second to her that day was Queen Caroline, who would go on to be the dam of Forte.

Puca was a half-sister to G1 winner and millionaire Finnegan’s Wake, and their dam Boat’s Ghost was a half sister to a stakes winner and stakes placed runner at Prairie Meadows. Mage’s fourth dam was the multiple stakes winner Native Boat, and even further back you see the likes of Frizette Stakes winner Capelet, a half-sister to 1958 Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Quill, who counts the likes of Canadian champion One For All and Eclipse Champion Three-Year-Old colt Afleet Alex among her descendants.

Mage’s 5-cross pedigree

Interestingly, Puca’s family 5g is genetically identical to the family of her sire Big Brown, family 5h. These are the only two Lowe families known to carry the D1b mitochondrial haplotype, which is also found in hardy northern horse breeds such as the Norwegian Fjord, Icelandic, and Shetland Pony. Big Brown himself was linebred to his female line via his damsire Nureyev, who also comes from family 5h - Big Brown’s ninth dam, Simon’s Shoes, was the fifth dam of Nureyev.

Other horses linebred to this mitochondrial family include G1 winner Fault, a member of family 5g (Capelet is her 5th dam) by family 5h’s Blame. Fault’s second damsire, St. Jovite, is also a member of family 5h tracing to Simon’s Shoes. The previously mentioned Afleet Alex also has multiple strains of this mitochondrial family, as his damsire Hawkster was from the same family 5g as his dam Maggy Hawk, and his sire Northern Afleet was out of a mare by family 5h’s Nureyev. Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf winner Islington was from family 5h by family 5h’s Sadler’s Wells. G1 winner Archipenko was from family 5h by a grandson of Nureyev, and he himself produced two-time Hong Kong Gold Cup (G1) winner Time Warp from family 5h and out of a mare by family 5h’s Stormy Atlantic.

Clearly, there’s plenty of precedent for success with this pedigree pattern, and Good Magic’s only other starter from the D1b haplotype is stakes winner How Did He Do That, so it seems quite possible that he also has nuclear DNA that combines well with this mitochondrial family. It will be interesting to see how Mage fares in the Preakness Stakes and beyond, and I’m particularly curious to see how he does as a sire in the future when combined with the likes of family 5h’s Blame and Sadler’s Wells.