Goodnight Olive '23 debut could be the start of special season

As reigning female sprint champion Goodnight Olive prepares for her 5-year-old debut in the Grade 1, $600,000 Madison Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland, optimism abounds that she is sitting on a special season.

She closed last year with a flourish, producing convincing 2 1/2-length victories in both the Ballerina and the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint in her first two Grade 1 tests. Her ability to work regularly at Payson Park Training Center since her first drill in January suggests ankle injuries that set her back before might finally be in the past.

See field, posts, jockeys for Madison Stakes.

“She’s only had seven lifetime starts, so we hope she’ll be at her best at 5,” said Steve Laymon, who manages First Row Partners and combined with Team Hanley to form the ownership group.

Trainer Chad Brown and the connections hope this will be the year that Goodnight Olive proves something Brown has suspected all along – that she can handle more distance. Her sire, Ghostzapper, cast aside his history of injuries to stage a scintillating performance in the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Classic. Goodnight Olive is out of the Smart Strike mare Salty Strike.

“It would make her more valuable if we can show she can route as well as sprint, plus the purse money is a little better in route races than in sprint races,” Laymon said. “This would create more options for her.”

The seven-furlong Madison makes great sense as a starting point. She is perfect through four starts at the seven-furlong distance. She has won both of her races at Keeneland, breaking her maiden there on Oct. 22, 2021, in her second career start and then securing the Eclipse Award there last November.

Brown gave Goodnight Olive 45 days off before she was back on the Payson Park work tab Jan. 27 for the first of nine works, most of them exceptional. She most recently covered four furlongs in 48.80 seconds, ranking fourth among 43 at the distance.

Owners tend to worry, and Laymon has some trepidation about the Madison. “I always thought a seven-furlong race was the toughest for a horse coming off a layoff because there is really not much time to relax during that race,” he said. “They do run pretty much the entire race, but it seems to be a good distance for her.”

Yuugiri looms as a challenging foe in the Madison. She has swept her three sprint races by a combined 13 lengths, but none were at the graded-stakes level.

If all goes well for Goodnight Olive and she comes out of the Madison as well as she goes into it, Laymon said, the seven-furlong Derby City Distaff (G1), part of the Kentucky Derby undercard, would be considered for her second start. She has handled relatively quick turnarounds well, capturing the Ballerina at Saratoga three weeks after she took an allowance optional claiming race there.

In looking beyond that, the 1 1/16-mile Ogden Phipps (G1) on June 10 at massive Belmont Park likely would be the first time the star filly is asked to route.

“That would make sense to find out if she can handle distance. It would be a lot easier doing it one turn,” Laymon said. “I wouldn’t want to put her going a mile and an eighth around two turns the first time.”

The Ogden Phipps might feature a confrontation with 3-year-old female champion Nest. Mike Repole, who co-owns Nest, has said the race on the Belmont stakes undercard might be among her early targets.

First Row Partners consists of owners who gather each summer at Saratoga, so at least one start there is on their wish list. “If we could get her six starts this year, that would be a great year,” Laymon said.

Brown has compared Goodnight Olive to Ghostzapper in many regards. He helped to oversee the 2004 horse of the year when he was an assistant to Bobby Frankel, the late Hall of Fame trainer. Laymon credits Brown for getting Goodnight Olive this far when persistent ankle problems threatened to derail her.

“I’m just thankful that Chad was patient enough with her to give her the opportunity,” he said. “Some trainers tend to push on. That’s not Chad. He strongly believes that if there is a problem, you give them time.”

Laymon yearns for that patience to be richly rewarded in what he said will be Goodnight Olive’s final season.