When Magnitude romped by 9 3/4 lengths in the Feb. 15 Risen Star Stakes (G2) at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, he looked like a horse poised for success at Churchill Downs.
His connections naturally hoped that achievement might come in the May 2 Kentucky Derby (G1), but an ankle chip was discovered just a few days after the Risen Star, necessitating arthroscopic surgery and sidelining him along the Derby trail. But healthy and recovered, he eventually made his way to Churchill Downs, and Nov. 28 at the Louisville, Ky., track, he had his moment beneath the twin spires. Grittily surging past a stubborn front-runner in Chunk of Gold, he withstood a late bid from Dubai World Cup (G1) winner Hit Show to prevail by a half-length in the $595,000 Clark Stakes (G2).
Magnitude, a 3-year-old son of Not This Time , clocked 1 1/8 miles on a fast track in 1:48.69 under jockey Jose Ortiz, who rode the winner for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen and owner Ron Winchell's Winchell Thoroughbreds.
Magnitude became the first 3-year-old to win the Clark since the Asmussen-trained and Winchell-owned Gun Runner won it in 2016 prior to his 2017 Horse of the Year campaign.
Ortiz said his mount was "traveling great" the entire race, including when the colt tracked Chunk of Gold through fractions of :23.21, :47.07, and 1:10.79. Sent after that foe midway on the second turn, Magnitude took charge, though without being able to open up much distance on that rival. Maintaining a narrow advantage through the stretch, he outlasted Hit Show, who rallied to catch Chunk of Gold by a head for the place.
The winner, who swapped his leads in the final sixteenth, returned $6.36 for a $2 win wager as the favorite.
"He had to dig in late to get by but he was very game," Ortiz said. "He has a ton of talent and I think will get better into next year."
Hit Show, fifth in the 2024 Clark, fared better in the 2025 renewal.
"At the eighth pole I didn't think he was going to get into contention," his trainer Brad Cox said. "Then, he really dug in to make it close."
The victory was Magnitude's first at the graded level since his return from injury. He had rolled in the ungraded Iowa Derby July 5 at Prairie Meadows, finished a soundly beaten third behind Sovereignty and Bracket Buster in the Aug. 23 Travers Stakes (G1), and had been second to Baeza in the Sept. 20 Pennsylvania Derby (G1) at Parx Racing in his other post-Risen Star starts.
"We've been waiting for him to put in a performance like that all year long," David Fiske, racing manager for Winchell Thoroughbreds, said of a graded stakes wait. "The Risen Star was kind of a tipoff."
Asmussen called Magnitude's Clark the colt's best effort in 11 starts—even superior to the Risen Star. This was Magnitude's third stakes win but first without controlling the pace.
"You know, obviously being handicappers, he won (the Risen Star) that day with a bias. He ran some good horses off their feet," he noted. "I think today he beat a talented group of horses on the square."
Asmussen, North America's all-time leading trainer but yet to win the Derby, was content to savor Friday's victory rather than ponder what might have been in the Run for the Roses.
"If the Derby doesn't go your way, who knows?" he said. "We may have left it all there, but I'm very proud of him today."
Neither Asmussen nor Fiske was ready to commit to a next race for Magnitude, though winning a grade 1 would make the well-bred colt a valuable stud prospect. The $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes (G1) Jan. 24 at Gulfstream Park would appear an option, along with the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) Feb. 14 or $12 million Dubai World Cup (G1) March 28 in the Middle East. Both the Pegasus World Cup and Saudi Cup are at 1 1/8 miles, while the Dubai World Cup is at 1 1/4 miles, a distance over which Magnitude weakened in the Travers.
Regardless of his next race, Magnitude soon heads to Fair Grounds in New Orleans, where Asmussen stables his best horses during the winter. The $500,000 New Orleans Classic Stakes (G2) at 1 1/8 miles March 21 is the richest race for older horses there in the first quarter of 2026.
Magnitude made $360,700 Friday to advance his earnings to $1,291,865 from a record 5-2-1 in 11 starts. Bred in Kentucky by Ron Stolich, he is out of the Bernardini mare Rockadelic. He was a $450,000 purchase by Winchell Thoroughbreds from the Gainesway consignment to the 2023 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
The second-leading stallion in North America behind Into Mischief , Not This Time will stand in 2026 for $250,000 at Taylor Made Stallions in Kentucky.
