In May 1991 we had the distinct opportunity to purchase MAGUS, at the age of 15, from a wonderful lady, Janice McConnell, of Gainesville, Georgia. Janice had owned MAGUS since September of 1982, after purchasing him from Brenau College, a private college, in Georgia. The way Janice tells the story was that she was looking at the horses at this college, which had a herd of Quarter horses, however strolling through the barn saw this chestnut stallion in his stall and knew immediately that this was not a Quarter horse. What was this Arabian doing here? She found, after many questions asked, that he had been donated to the college, by James L. Kirk II, of Georgia, his breeder. This Arabian didn’t exactly fit into their program. Janice had owned Arabians previously and knew quality when she saw it. She asked about purchasing him, but they said they couldn't sell him until a certain amount of time had elapsed, as he was a donation. She got them to promise to call her when he was available, and it was only, again through fate, that she ended up with him as they did not call her. Janice didn’t have much room for other horses and so only had a pony mare to keep MAGUS company. She used him as a trail horse and eventually competed in several competitive trail rides. He was Sweepstakes Champion of a major ride in the Southeast. Janice was not able to continue keeping a stallion however and that is how he was offered to me. I had called her several years earlier when I had noticed a small ad about an *ORZEL granddaughter, and to be truthful I called to find out the connection to *ORZEL. When I found that she had a son I tried to lease him, however Janice had experienced that before and didn’t want to lease him out again. We didn’t make a deal then but about two years later I got that call from her asking if I would be interested in buying him. We exchanged a number of telephone calls that day that culminated in our purchase of him, and we went to Georgia the next weekend to pick him up. I will never forget how he looked when I first saw him in person. He was truly MAGNIFICENT. A gorgeous tall chestnut stallion that looked reminiscent of the great old Crabbet stallions I had seen pictures of in some of the early reference books. To say the least I was impressed, and he was mine!

MAGUS is, of course, by *ORZEL, the grand old Polish stallion that everyone is very familiar with, however I believe that many people forget that some of his very close up ancestors are of excellent English lines, such as RISSALMA, the dam of PRIBOJ and STAR OF THE HILLS, the dam of KRONA. All of MAGUS' bottom line is ENGLISH, with a lot of that being Crabbet breeding. His dam is the mare ML MAGIC FAIRY, by the tall and talented import from England for the Lewis family, *TOUCH OF MAGIC. He was reported to be 15.3H and was a three day event horse, and so was a talented athlete in his own right. He was by the magnificent INDIAN MAGIC (RAKTHA x INDIAN CROWN by RASEEM) who was the premier sire of C.G. Covey’s Crabbet Stud. In a descriptive quote, about INDIAN MAGIC, from Gladys Brown Edwards', The ARABIAN War Horse to Show Horse book she states "He is truly a magnificent horse and might be called the crowning achievement of Lady Wentworth who was always trying for a good-sized Arabian with classic quality."

MAGUS’ dam is also of English lines. His dam, ML MAGIC FAIRY is out of GOLDEN FAIRY by MY MAN, whose sire is the Desert Bred, FEDAAN. MAGUS's third dam, SUGAR PLUM FAIRY, was the Supreme Halter Champion of England sometime in the sixties, however sold and exported to Israel where she continued to produce excellent foals. Her sire is BLUE DOMINO, by RISSALIX, who is out of RISSLA, the dam of RISSALMA, who produced the great PRIBOJ. What is very interesting about MAGUS’s dam line is that it traces in tail female to the mare RYTHMA, the full sister to RISSLA, who is the dam of RISSALMA.   MAGUS has the distinct benefit of having many crosses to the great Crabbet mare, RISSLA.

Photo taken at age 15

In the article titled "Influence of the Crabbet Horses On Russian Arabian Breeding Programs" by Colin A. Pearson he says "When we come to look at the stallions which are being used in Russian today, it is pertinent to note how very dependent they are on the Crabbet blood lines. No other female line could anywhere near match the RISSLA line for producing four top class stallions which are used widely in Russian breeding. " MAGUS has the distinction of carrying five crosses to that great mare line, and most importantly along the tail female of his dam and also the tail female of the great PRIBOJ, who is his great grandsire.

I have been a fan of the great *ORZEL for along time. My father, Chuck Tolbert an ARAC Hall of Fame Trainer and IAHA Tent of Honor member, first became interested in *ORZEL as he had been such a great race horse. He also carried the attributes that so lacked in the majority of our horses, and still do I might add. The excellent size, depth, substance and bone. Unfortunately during his lifetime the popular image of the Arabian was toward the opposite type of horse, however my father was a very good horseman and recognized his qualities. He bred the great race mare that he owned, FAGAI, to *ORZEL and from that mating came ORZELA. She went on to be a many times winner and many time Stakes winner. My best memory of her is winning the GLADYS BROWN EDWARDS STAKE at Bay Meadows, in San Francisco. She and one other mare were against 7 or 8 colts. They both led the colts around that mile track and it was a close finish at the end but ORZELA won by a head. And both were well ahead of the colts I might add. She was a tall, angular, magnificent mare, the same fiery red as *ORZEL himself. So I have been well acquainted with the *ORZEL blood for some time. We had always wanted an *ORZEL son or daughter as we knew what it could add greatly to our breeding program.

Getting MAGUS at the age of 15, and not being a proven stallion at the time, and I mean not proven as he had not had any foals on the racetrack, although he had sired a number of purebred and partbred foals. I didn’t feel that I could advertise and promote him until I really knew what I had. That , of course, is a 4 year proposition, and that is if you are lucky. So that first May, in 91, we were conservative and only bred three mares to him. In 92 when the foals arrived we were pleased, very pleased and bred three more. But, when breeding for racing, the foals can be great looking, but you don’t really know if they have talent until they actually run. It was a long four years from breeding to racing, but we learned a lot with that year’s foal crop. What we learned was that MAGUS was a race horse sire. All three of the foal crop of 92 were winners. The most outstanding was the great colt AMAZING SON, owned now and during his racing career by Mickey and Michelle Morgan of Mandolynn Hill Farm, Aubrey Texas. AMAZING SON had a great race career, but unfortunately it was cut short by an injury sustained when he was a 2 year old. He ran with the best horses of his time. I might add he was one of the few to ever beat the great PATRIOT MISSILE during his prime. AMAZING SON is a multiple stakes winner and set two track records at 5 ½ F, 1 1/16 Mile and equaled a track record at 7 F. He was truly an amazing colt. One note of interest is that AMAZING SON is now a proven producer also, as he bred one mare as a two year old, the resulting colt, DESTE GOTCHA, (now retire) owned by Marj and Jim Estes, of Van Alstyne, Texas, was second by a nose his first time out and ran away from the field his second time out with a 13 ¾ length victory which equaled the track record for 6 furlongs at Retama Park, San Antonio, Texas last year.

The other two of that season were MERCY MERCY, a filly who was a winner and stakes placed while owned by Pam Weidel, of Weidels Boxwood Farm, NJ, and SWEETTALKER, a gelding, again owned by Mickey and Michelle Morgan. Subsequent foal crops by MAGUS have produced the durable runner and stakes winner BENEDICTION COL, the stakes placed colt SWING KING (deceased), owned by Kathleen Weickhardt of Arkansas. 

MY MAN GUS, owned by Godolphin Arabians and renamed Mushaagib is the Top US bred Arabian in the  Gulf Racing Season with 5 wins of 6 starts and earnings of $269,600. Making  Magus  the Top US Sire for the Gulf racing season. 

Other runners include AMAZING SON's full sister AMAYSING GRACE, owned by Kathleen Weickhardt. Other winners are the beautiful colt ORLY, owned by Diane Waldron and CARDSHARP 3/26(4-5-4-4) $14,190 owned by Scott and Carolyn Gipson, and will stand at stud in 2002. Another young star for MAGUS is the five year old stallion owned by Todd Moak, GOOD TO GO, 2/16(7-3-7-2)2, $27,432 as of November 1, 2001. 

Starters for this year include two colts, Texas Jamm, owned by Todd Moak and Real Neat, owned by Mickey and Michelle Morgan.

Our plans for the future, as MAGUS is now gone, is to concentrate on his get by breeding his daughters that we have retained to stallions that we feel will be great outcrosses. By standing CARDSHARP, we will be able to pass along the blood that has been in our family since the 60's.