It was a scene that if you blinked, you would likely have missed it.
Moments after being reunited in the winners' circle with Goodnight Olive, the back-to-back winner of the seven-furlong Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1), trainer Chad Brown placed his right hand on her neck before leaning in to kiss his trainee as if he were a proud father.
If words don't do justice to what the reigning female champion sprinter means to Brown, perhaps those fleeting seconds following her final race will suffice.
REPLAY: Goodnight Olive wins the $1 Million @PNCBank #BreedersCup Filly & Mare Sprint! Congrats to her connections! #BC23 pic.twitter.com/cmlJoCUJ87
— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) November 4, 2023
"This horse is such a great horse. And it's our first back-to-back Breeders Cup winner, our first repeat winner, so that really puts her up in high standings in our barn for all the grades we've had and through 17 years of training," Brown said exiting the Santa Anita Park track.
Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. and Goodnight Olive had a good start out of gate 1, but were quickly joined by Society, Yuugiri, and Eda. Ortiz settled in behind the front-running trio. Riding along the rail over the opening quarter mile, Ortiz slipped in between Society to his inside and Yuugiri on the outside and claimed the lead just before arriving at the top of the stretch.
Ortiz, waving his crop, signaled to his mount to pour out her soul onto the dirt one last time. And one more time, as she has done many times before, Goodnight Olive pulled away from the field and exhibited the competitive streak that isn't too far beneath the surface of her gentle demeanor.
She paid $4.20 on a $2 win ticket. Yuugiri, longshot Three Witches, and Society rounded out the top four.
"Beautiful trip," said Ortiz, who was with Goodnight Olive for all but one of her 12 career starts. "She was there for me every time I asked. She gives me confidence. I knew I was on the best horse. She did it again."
The final time was 1:22.97 with fractional times of :22.29 (Eda), :44.86 (Society), and 1:09.68 (Goodnight Olive). Goodnight Olive's margin of victory was 2 3/4 lengths.
Brown and Ortiz wanted to get out to a fast start and at least be near the front to avoid any potential trouble later.
Brown said of the strategy, "When she broke good and got behind Society, which I was really happy to see because we knew she was the second choice in the race and really fit on paper. If we could find her, she was going to take us at least to the quarter-pole. And I said to Irad, 'It's likely that other horses will be tired around you at that point,' and when she got outside of her, she was able to put the race to bed. Rarely does 'Plan A' go into effect and actually finish all the way through. That was our plan and Irad executed it perfectly."
Bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, Goodnight Olive ends her career 9-2-1 from a dozen starts and $2,196,200 in the bank. This year, she was 3-1-1 from five starts and posted $1,176,250 in earnings.
The dark brown mare was purchased by First Row Partners (later joined by Team Hanley) for $170,000 out of the Summerfield consignment at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale.
Now Goodnight Olive returns to the sales ring as she is scheduled to be sold Nov. 7 at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale.
"It's bittersweet obviously. It's also the right thing to do for her because she deserves the unbelievable career afterward," said Marty Scheinman, an owner with First Row Partners. "We're mostly a racing partnership. ... We've obviously thought about it. But this is the right move for her. Everything that's been done with our managing partner, our trainer, and our rider is (done) in her interests. We think this is in her interests."
The daughter of Ghostzapper and Smart Strike mare Salty Strike has four grade 1 wins and a grade 2 on her resume. She broke her maiden on second asking, the only start of her career where Ortiz was not in the irons. From that point, she won seven straight races until she finished third in this year's Derby City Distaff Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs.
Ghostzapper will stand the 2024 season for $75,000 at Hill 'n' Dale Farms in Paris, Ky.
Earlier in the week, Brown said he hoped Goodnight Olive would end her racing career Saturday as a champion. This triumph will go a very long way in accomplishing that one final racing achievement.
