Goodnight Olive takes Ballerina, gains BC Filly and Mare Sprint berth
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - For her stakes debut in Sunday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina Handicap, Goodnight Olive faced a field that combined to win 22 stakes, bank $6.1 million and earn one Eclipse Award.
“I had a lot of respect for this field,” Chad Brown, the trainer of Goodnight Olive said.
Goodnight Olive showed little respect for her rivals, sitting a perfect stalking trip under Irad Ortiz Jr. and powering home a 2 3/4-length winner of the Ballerina at Saratoga.
Caramel Swirl rallied for second by 1 1/2 lengths over Obligatory, who was 3 3/4 lengths in front of Travel Column as Bill Mott-trained runners finished 2-3-4.
Ce Ce, the reigning female sprint champion, finished fifth as the 3-2 favorite and was followed by Lady Rocket and Bella Sofia.
The win was the fifth straight for Goodnight Olive, a 4-year-old daughter of Ghostzapper owned by First Row Partners and Team Hanley and who has been difficult to keep on the racetrack.
Brown said Goodnight Olive twice had to miss time to remove chips from her ankles and credited his owners with showing tremendous patience getting the filly to stakes company. She was scheduled to run in the Shine Again Stakes here earlier in the meet, but that race failed to fill and was canceled. Brown instead ran her in an allowance race on Aug. 7 - a race she won by 3 3/4 lengths - which meant he was bringing her back in three weeks in this spot.
“She’s had some soundness issues, the team of owners always let me do the right thing, take my time with this horse and never push her beyond what she was ready to do,” Brown said. “She’s finally got it all together. She’s nice and sound and healthy.”
Brown said Irad Ortiz Jr. took advantage of his outside draw by keeping Goodnight Olive in the clear and not taking the kickback from a fast track that, after looking at horses following a race, would have one think it was sloppy.
Goodnight Olive, in the clear, was tracking dueling leaders Travel Column and Bella Sofia through a half-mile in 44.50 seconds. After Bella Sofia retreated, Goodnight Olive had Travel Column in her sights, took over from that one turning for home and drew off for the convincing score.
“It played out just exactly how we thought,” Brown said. “We thought she’d be laying roughly third … off a hot pace, so Irad and I were both on the same page - don’t get involved with the hot pace, but don’t be too far away.”
Goodnight Olive covered the seven furlongs in 1:21.40 and returned $13.60 to win.
“They were going a little fast, but she was going the right way,” Ortiz said. “She was relaxed and in a good spot. I bided my time and waited.”
The victory earned Goodnight Olive a fees-paid berth into the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland on Nov. 5. Brown said he would likely train her up to that race.
Evaluating his three runners, Mott said Travel Column went too fast early, Obligatory had her momentum stopped when a tiring Lady Rocket, ridden by Ricardo Santana Jr., came out into her at the quarter pole, and Caramel Swirl was simply second-best.
The disappointment of the race was Ce Ce, who never got involved under Victor Espinoza, who said his mare didn’t like the track.
“It’s one of those things where if she doesn’t like the track, she will not run,” Espinoza said.