There is something special about a first foal. So when two-time champion Goodnight Olive's first foal was slated to enter the sales ring Sept. 15 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, there was no shortage of interested parties.
In the end, it was the partnership of Lane's End Racing, St. Elias Stable, Belladonna Racing, and West Point Thoroughbreds that topped all others at $1.5 million for the yearling son of top sire Not This Time .
"He's just a super colt," said Lane's End founder Will Farish. "We kind of fell in love with him, and Goodnight Olive was such a special filly on the track, and for her first foal to look like that, being by (Not This Time), it is exciting. We are thrilled to end up with him."
Not This Time stood the 2026 season at Taylor Made Stallions near Nicholasville, Ky., for $250,000.
The colt will be trained by Cherie DeVaux, who won this year's Kentucky Derby (G1) and Belmont Stakes (G1) with Golden Tempo.
If the colt comes anywhere close to his dam's on-track exploits, his new owners will be thrilled. Goodnight Olive was 9-2-1 from 12 starts, including a pair of Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1) wins, while earning close to $2.2 million.
"Being out of Goodnight Olive definitely adds to it," Farish said of the colt's allure. "To have a first foal that looked like (Not This Time) is really impressive. I can only imagine what her second foal (by Seize the Grey) looked like. But yeah, she definitely adds to it. She's a special, special filly."
Consigned by Gainesway as Hip 238, the foal was sold by breeder Resolute Bloodstock. Resolute's CEO Chelsey Stone Stewart said Tuesday's result is what you hope for when you buy a champion such as Goodnight Olive, which Resolute did when spending $6 million in 2023 at Fasig-Tipton's The November Sale.
"We were super excited to have a Not This Time foal be her first foal," she said. "The mare holds a special place in (our) heart. The farm team's done a great job. Brian Graves at Gainesway did fantastic with the colt. Super thrilled with the result, and the prospective buyers—I'm very happy with who's walking away with it."
Stone Stewart said she came into the sale hoping to get seven figures, but that the end result "exceeded expectations."
Prior to the sale, Stone Stewart told BloodHorse that Resolute would "like to stay in for a leg." She said Tuesday that she's extended the offer to the colt's new owners. Farish didn't rule it out, but explained the challenge of adding another owner.
"It's hard with this partnership that we have because everybody has a set percentage," he said. "That kind of tweaks it all. ... We just have to talk about it."
The partnership bought two other colts Tuesday. One is by Not This Time (Hip 362) and out of the More Than Ready mare Pleasant Passage for $1.2 million. The other is by Tapit (Hip 368) and out of the Union Rags mare Princess Huron for $500,000. Both were out of the Gainesway consignment.
