Breeders' Cup sprint race winners Elite Power, Goodnight Olive have a lot in common
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Goodnight Olive and Elite Power not only won their respective Breeders’ Cup races, the Filly and Mare Sprint and the Sprint, in impressive fashion Saturday at Keeneland, they did so having come into the day with remarkably identical résumés.
Both are lightly raced and patiently handled 4-year-olds who had gone undefeated and virtually untested since winning their maidens. Neither had made a stakes start of any kind until using Breeders’ Cup Challenges races as a final stepping-stone to their memorable performance here last weekend. Another integral common denominator is that both horses were ridden to victory on Saturday by Irad Ortiz Jr.
Goodnight Olive came into the Filly and Mare Sprint undefeated this season while having won her previous five starts by a combined margin of 29 1/2 lengths, including a 2 3/4-length decision in the Grade 1 Ballerina at Saratoga on Aug. 28, posting a lifetime best 102 Beyer Speed Figure in the process.
Injury plagued early in her career, trainer Chad Brown opted to forego another prep for the Filly and Mare Sprint, a strategy that paid dividends when the daughter of Ghostzapper rallied to a popular 2 1/2-length triumph over the reigning 2-year-old Eclipse champion Echo Zulu.
“The race really unfolded great for her, as we hoped, and she really performed again,” Brown said. “She had some soundness issues during the early part of her career. Me, the owners, and our team took our time with her, did the right thing, we waited for her to get to a point where she could stay sound, stay safe, and perform on a regular basis and she rewarded us with a flawless, undefeated season.
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“To close out with two Grade 1’s in a row and win the Breeders’ Cup, she’s a very deserving champion. I’m very proud of her.”
Brown said Monday that Goodnight Olive, who received a 101 Beyer Figure for the Filly and Mare Sprint, came out of the race in good order and was already at Payson Park where she will get some time off this winter before returning to race again in 2023.
Elite Power won his four starts prior to the Sprint by an average margin of five lengths, capping off the streak with a one-sided, 5 3/4-length triumph in the Grade 2 Vosburgh at Aqueduct, a Win and You’re in race for which he earned a career best 101 Beyer Figure.
Like Goodnight Olive, he rallied from off the pace under a flawless ride by Ortiz, edging away during the final sixteenth of a mile from a field that included the reigning sprint Eclipse champion and odds-on favorite Jackie’s Warrior.
Like Goodnight Olive, all was well with Elite Power coming out of the Sprint, according to trainer Bill Mott, who was still awaiting word from the colt’s owner, Juddmonte, as to whether he’ll have his star back to race again in 2023.
“I haven’t heard a word yet, so I’m hoping no news is good news,” Mott said on Monday.
Elite Power’s victory in the Sprint and his overall résumé for the year puts him in the thick of the race for the Eclipse Award in the sprint division along with Jackie’s Warrior and his own stablemate, Cody’s Wish, who won the Grade 1 Forego going seven furlongs as a prelude to capturing the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on Saturday, a race decided around two turns this year.
“The Eclipse Award never really entered my mind until you asked me about it now, but I guess it’s something to consider,” Mott said the morning after the race. “I’ll leave that up to the voters, although we saw what he [Elite Power], what both of our horses, did on the track yesterday. And now they both have victories over Jackie’s Warrior.
“From what I’ve seen when involved in these situations in the past, what a horse does throughout the year doesn’t seem to mean as much as what they do in the Breeders’ Cup. A case in point being last year with War Like Goddess when they made the Japanese horse [Loves Only You] the champion. The Breeders’ Cup is very important. So I’m sure the voters will have a good look at what these horses did here Saturday before making their selections.”
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