2023 Eclipse Awards: Goodnight Olive

Goodnight Olive had a tough act to follow in 2023 while trying to match her 2022 championship campaign.

Following an outstanding 2022 that earned her the Eclipse Award as outstanding female sprinter and distinction as an Eclipse finalist for older dirt female, the consistent 5-year-old mare came back for more. By the end of 2023, Goodnight Olive once again found herself a finalist in both categories.

Her five-start campaign included three graded victories and a repeat win in the Grade 1 PNC Bank Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, enough for Goodnight Olive to emerge as an Eclipse finalist in the same categories – female sprinter and older dirt female. Who knew she was this good?

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Trainer Chad Brown knew. So did her jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. And the mare, sired by Ghostzapper, took owners First Row Partners and Team Hanley on a championship ride that ended the same way it began, with a Grade 1 victory at seven furlongs.

Goodnight Olive returned from a five-month break for her 2023 debut in the Grade 1 Madison on April 8 at Keeneland. The odds-on favorite, Goodnight Olive raced forwardly in midpack, swung wide, opened up, and won by a length. Nice start to the season.

The breaks did not go her way a month later in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff on May 6 at Churchill Downs. Goodnight Olive started at odds-on, with a bull’s-eye on her back. Goodnight Olive and Ortiz were trapped inside in third or fourth, with nowhere to go.

Blocked and buried through the stretch, Goodnight Olive never had a chance. She finished third by two lengths behind winner Matareya and runner-up Wicked Halo. It is still the only race in which Goodnight Olive finished out of the exacta. She would try to make amends in the Grade 2 Bed o’ Roses on June 17 at Aqueduct.

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Goodnight Olive had a fight on her hands in the form of Wicked Halo. Goodnight Olive wore her down to win by a neck and reemerge as a premier female sprinter. However, there was another top sprint filly waiting. Goodnight Olive would meet Echo Zulu in the Grade 1 Ballerina Stakes on Aug. 26 at Saratoga. Although Goodnight Olive earned a career-high 108 Beyer, she finished 2 1/2 lengths behind Echo Zulu.

Goodnight Olive still had the BC Filly and Mare Sprint ahead, and Echo Zulu, having suffered a career-ending injury, was not in the field. Despite having the rail post, Goodnight Olive moved outside for a clear trip and dominated by 2 3/4 lengths. Nice way to end the season.

Goodnight Olive was bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings and sold to First Row Partners for $170,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October yearling sale. She won 3 of 5 starts in 2023, and earned $1,176,250.

Days after the Breeders’ Cup, she was sold for $6 million to John Stewart. Plans call for Goodnight Olive to campaign in 2024 at age 6. She will have a tough act to follow.

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