Brisbane, May 10 – Magic Albert has had his fee reduced for this spring from $16,500 to $13,750 and showed exactly why he is one of the best value proven sires in the Hunter Valley when posting his third stakes-winner this season after three year-old gelding Za Magic scored an emphatic victory in the Group Three BTC Doomben Classic on Saturday.

Drawn awkwardly in gate 11, the Maryann Thexton trained Za Magic was ridden forward by jockey Brad Stewart to settle just behind the leaders and sprinted quickly in the straight when shown clear running to beat Sydney stakes-winner Orca by close to two lengths in the 1615 metre Derby preliminary.

"We thought the horse would be better suited racing back, but Brad had different ideas," said Maryann Thexton.

Thexton indicated Za Magic would have his next start in the Group Three BTC Rough Habit Plate (2020m) at Doomben in a fortnight as his lead up to the Group One QTC Queensland Derby (2400m) at Eagle Farm in four weeks times.

"The owners asked me to buy a horse who could stay but I never had enough money to spend at the yearling sale, so we paid $36,000 for him as a weanling," she said.

"By the time we had raised him and educated him, it had cost about $80,000, but the owners might have a cheap horse now."

An impressive winner of the $100,000 Magic Millions Two Year Old Plate last June at the Gold Coast and fourth in the Listed QTC Australia Post Stakes as a two year-old before his last start second in Listed company at Eagle Farm, the Maryanne Thexton trained Za Magic looks set for a good carnival and can add further to his smart record of two wins from eight starts with prizemoney of $174,200.

A $36,000 purchase from the draft of Oakwood Farm at the 2006 MM National Weanling Sale, Za Magic is the third foal of the metropolitan winning Zabeel mare Zab Watch (NZ) and has plenty in his female pedigree to suggest he can run further.

A half-sister to the dam of Group Three winner Tantalic, Zab Watch is a grand-daughter of champion filly Surround, the Australian Horse of the Year in 1977.

Zab Watch was covered again by Magic Albert last spring so will hopefully have a sibling to Za Magic in the pipeline for Queensland based breeder Kevin Dixon of Racetree.

Za Magic is the third stakes-winner this season for Magic Albert joining Group Two AJC Villiers Stakes winner Something Anything and the three year-old Marchinski, winner of the Group Three AJC Frederick Clissold Stakes prior to his sale to Hong Kong.

He is the sire of some 50 winners of more than $1.8 million in prizemoney this season and his yearlings this year sold for up to $100,000 and averaged more than three times his 2006 service fee of $11,000.

As a proven stakes producing outcross sire completely free of Northern Dancer, Mr Prospector and Star Kingdom (IRE), Magic Albert is hard to beat this spring for value.