Fate, And A Filly, Have Been Kind To Lagace

Destinys Magic has chased Witch Way around two half-mile ovals in recent weeks, but as the two-year-old trotting fillies head back to Flamboro Downs this Wednesday afternoon for their second $130,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold final, trainer Dan Lagace is more than satisfied with the filly’s early season efforts

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“We’re just kind of having fun with them. We bought four and three of them turned out pretty good. We sold one to Ben Wallace and this filly we sold half,” says Lagace, who shares ownership of Destinys Magic with his wife Michelle Gagne and Jack Darling, all of Cambridge, Ont. “We only paid $7,000 and she’s got almost fifty grand made in three starts. It’s just kind of fun to have a nice little horse.”

Since winning her career debut in the first Gold eliminations of the season at Grand River Raceway with a 2:03.2 effort, Destinys Magic has delivered a third-place finish in the July 11 Gold final at Grand River and a runner-up finish in her Gold elimination at Flamboro Downs last Wednesday. This week’s final will be the last time the freshman trotting fillies compete over a half-mile oval this season, and as a result, Lagace thinks Destinys Magic’s best races are in the future.

“She hasn’t been having much luck around these half mile tracks,” notes the horseman. “When she’s coming out of the turns she’s switching her lead in behind so, if you watch the race Wednesday she’s sitting in the two-hole, and going past the half she’s right on the helmet, but then coming out past the paddock turn she’s like two or three lengths back, and it’s because when she comes out of the turn it kind of gives her that wrong step, so she tries to go wide to make herself comfortable.

“She doesn’t want to do anything wrong, she doesn’t want to run, so it kind of saves us that she wants to be that way,” he adds. “She’s a professional, so she tries to please everybody I guess.”

Since she arrived in his barn after last fall’s Lexington Select Yearling Sale, Lagace has found little to fault about the daughter of Kadabra and Gracious Glide, unlike the many prospective purchasers who passed over her at sale time. An ill-timed kick by a pasture mate left Destinys Magic with a large bump on her hock just before the sale, and few other trainers were willing to take the risk that the injury would not impact the filly’s long-term health and ability.

“I went down there to give them $25,000 or $30,000 for her, that was our limit on her, $25,000 and maybe $30,000 if I liked her a lot in person,” recalls Lagace, who earmarked the filly based on her video and Ontario-sired breeding. “When we got her pulled out and saw that she had a big hock, we were like, ‘Uh oh.’ I’d actually told him, ‘Never mind, because I’m buying her myself and I don’t have a whole lot of money,’ but then [I said], ‘Okay, bring her out,’ because I had liked her.”

The filly’s handler assured Lagace and Gagne that the bump was purely cosmetic and that x-rays had indicated it did not affect the joint, so the couple tried to look beyond the injury; however Lagace admits that one of the factors that led him to take a chance on the filly was simply her name.

“For one thing is, her name is Destinys Magic, and my oldest daughter’s name is Destiny, so it kind of had me half-in there, I guess,” says the horseman. “Then we sat on the side and just watched people, and within a half hour 10 or 15 people came to look at her, but as soon as they saw the leg they disregarded her. So I kept her in the back of my mind and it came to sale time and I was sitting with Casie Coleman and Blake MacIntosh and I started bidding. My wife said, ‘What are you doing?’ And I said, “I told you, if she goes cheap I’m going to own her.’ And Blake looked at me and says, ‘You do know she has a great big hock right?’

“Every time Blake MacIntosh teases me on a horse though, it comes out to be a good horse,” adds Lagace with a laugh. “I bought Watermelonwine as a yearling out of Flamboro and I give $12,000 for him, and when I was leaving Blake MacIntosh told me I paid $7,500 too much, and he [Watermelonwine] just won in 1:49 over Georgian Downs, so anytime Blake teases me, I know it’s a good one.”

As Lagace and Gagne worked with Destinys Magic the bump on her leg shrank and the trainer says it is now barely visible, and it never impacted her ability to trot. As the filly learned her lessons through the fall and winter at Classy Lane Training Centre, Lagace had an idea that they had an Ontario Sires Stakes contender on their hands, and it quickly became apparent that other people agreed. After eyeing her from afar, trainer Jack Darling took a spin behind the youngster and soon after offered to take her off Lagace’s hands.

“I was on the track and my wife said, ‘Jack was here looking for you,’ and I said, ‘Okay.’ So I went down and seen him and I said, ‘What, you want to buy me lunch?’ And he said, ‘No, how much do you want for your horse?’” recalls Lagace. “I said, ‘I like her a lot, so I won’t sell all of her, I’ll keep 25 per cent.’ And then my wife got a bit, ah, furious we’ll say, and so we ended up that he bought half and we kept half and I train her, and if I vacation then she’ll go to Jack’s, so it works out kind of good. He’s a good guy Jack.”

The arrangement has worked very well so far, as Destinys Magic has delivered on the early promise glimpsed by both trainers. And as long as fortune continues to smile on them, Lagace expects the easy-going filly to be a player on the Gold Series circuit all season.

“She’s real good with herself. Like, nothing bugs her. If you go to the races and she’s about to race, the cross ties are holding her head up. She’s a very soft touch. Like she jogs, she doesn’t hold onto the lines, she sleeps all day, she eats all the time, so she’s pretty — for a young horse she’s probably the best I’ve ever seen in a filly — she’s very mellow,” he notes. “Even walking, most young horses you walk you’ve got to hold onto them and stuff, she’s about three feet behind you. She’s very, very mellow.”

Destinys Magic will take aim on her fourth top three finish from Post 3 in Wednesday’s ninth race, and Guelph, Ont. resident Paul MacDonell will be aboard the filly’s race bike for the fifth straight week. Lagace emphasizes that the veteran reinsman has been a key contributor to the filly’s success.

“I need them driven to win, but I need them taken care of too. I’d rather have a horse that makes $100,000 every year than have a horse that makes $200,000 this year and there’s nothing left next year, and Paul’s great for that,” explains the trainer.

MacDonell and Destinys Magic will once again be looking to tuck in behind reigning Gold final champion, Witch Way, who gets the advantageous rail position. The other elimination winners, Counter Pointe, Winning Sissy and Circles, will start from Posts 4, 6, and 7 respectively. Post time for Flamboro Downs’ Wednesday program is 1 p.m., with the two-year-old trotting fillies battling for $130,000 and Gold final bragging rights in Race 9.

To view Wednesday's harness racing entries, click on the following link: Wednesday Entries - Flamboro Downs.

(OSS)