Magic Code is fat, pampered, and presumably pregnant on a farm in the heart of Japan, which is a long ways from the Pacific Northwest where she made her reputation as a race horse.

The Kentucky bred chestnut became only the fourth B.C. based horse to win a national award when she was named the outstanding older mare in Canada following her 4-year-old campaign in 1999.

That year she won the Belle Roberts at Emerald Downs under the guidance of Laffit Pincay, the world’s winningest rider, and bagged the second of her three straight Ballerinas at Hastings. Those are the two premier events for fillies and mares in the Northwest.

Trainer Dave Forster, who has plucked many a prize plum from strong female family trees in Kentucky, made the most prosperous purchase of his life when he bought her privately from breeder Oscar Penn after she failed to bring her $5,000 reserve price at the Keeneland September Sale.

Forster quickly sold a half interest to Robin and Anita Chan for $7,000 Canadian.

She turned out to be a rare bargain for all concerned. On the track she accumulated nine victories, 13 seconds and three thirds in 32 starts for earnings of $568,243.

When she was retired she was sold to the Yoshida Family of Japan who had purchased an interest in Fusaichi Pegasus and wanted to breed him to mares fresh off the track. The selling price was $325,000 US.

In February, 2003, she foaled a filly by Fusaichi Pegasus.

She was a star from the time she first stepped into competition at Hastings. She won her first two starts as a 3-year-old and captured the Queen Charlotte Handicap in her third. She then finished second in her next four starts, all stakes, including the Washington Oaks, before missing the board in the Delta Colleen.

In what was to become a habit she put it all together to whip older mares in the Ballerina under Alan Cuthbertson.

“She was a rangy and very athletic mare,” says Forster. “She was at her best coming from just off the pace. Unfortunately there was a mare at Emerald named Fleet Pacific who had a world of speed. If we went on the pace with her we would both be cooked. On the other hand if Magic Code didn’t go after her then Fleet Pacific would be long gone. That’s part of the reason she has so many seconds on her resume.”