Two-time Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint winner Goodnight Olive sold to John Stewart, a relative newcomer to the Thoroughbred business, for $6 million on Tuesday at the Fasig-Tipton November sale, and plans call for her to remain in training for a 2024 campaign.
The 5-year-old Ghostzapper mare went before the auctioneer's stand just three days after winning her second consecutive edition of the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita Park, putting her in prime position to secure her second Eclipse Award as champion female sprinter. That race improved her record to nine wins in 12 starts for earnings of $2,196,200.
Goodnight Olive previously raced for the partnership of First Row Partners and Team Hanley, and she was trained by Chad Brown.
“We bought a lot of yearlings, and we've got some gaps, and we wanted some horses that had the potential to run, and she fits every bill of that,” Stewart said. “I think we can have a lot of fun with her this next year, and we'll get to know Chad through that process, and hopefully have her defend her title at the Breeders' Cup. I think there's an opportunity for her to run at Del Mar and do that.”
After finishing second in her debut, Goodnight Olive won her next seven races, climbing the ladder from a Keeneland maiden special weight, into the allowance optional claiming race, and then Grade 1 company in the Ballerina Handicap and her first Breeders' Cup win.
She started her 2023 campaign with a win in the Grade 1 Madison Stakes, and after her winning streak was snapped with a third in the G1 Derby City Distaff Stakes, she came back to win the G2 Bed o' Roses Stakes before finishing second in her defense of the Ballerina and winning her second Breeders' Cup race.
Stewart said he decided he was going to make a play for Goodnight Olive as soon as he saw her name in the Fasig-Tipton November catalog, but watching her recent Breeders' Cup performance only strengthened his resolve.
“There's no price to keeping that horse in this country,” he said. “That's one of the reasons that I'm getting into this sport, is because I'm from Lexington, and I feel like if we continue to let these bloodlines go out of the country, it just makes things more challenging here.
“I knew there was a lot of foreign interest, and I was 100 percent set that she was going to stay here, because of her quality pedigree and the success that she's had to date – and I think she still has some opportunity to still run, and add to what she's already done,” Stewart continued. “Once I decided I was buying it, I was buying it, so they could have bid whatever they want, that horse was going home with me.”
Bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, Goodnight Olive is out of the Grade 3-winning Smart Strike mare Salty Strike. She was consigned by Elite, agent.
Goodnight Olive was the highlight of a busy night for Stewart, who also bought Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf winner Pizza Bianca and Queen Caroline, the dam of champion Forte, for $3 million each. He also bought Lenni Girl, a half-sister to champion Jackie's Warrior, for $500,000; Goddess Pele, a half-sister to Group 1 winner Sibelius, for $300,000; and a pair of weanlings by Munnings.
The post Breeders’ Cup Winner Goodnight Olive Sells To Stewart For $6 Million At Fasig-Tipton, Will Remain In Training appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
