Irad Ortiz, Jr. gives Goodnight Olive a hug after their Bed o’ Roses score (Susie Raisher)
G3 Matchmaker Tops List of Possible Targets for Consumer Spending
NYRA Press Office
ELMONT, N.Y.— First Row Partners and Team Hanley’s reigning Champion Female Sprint Goodnight Olive garnered a 97 Beyer Speed Figure while earning her fourth overall graded stakes triumph in Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000 Bed o’ Roses at Belmont Park.
Four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown indicated Sunday that Goodnight Olive will likely target the seven-furlong Grade 1, $500,000 Ballerina on August 26 at Saratoga Race Course, which offers a “Win and You’re In” berth to the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in November at Santa Anita Park.
Goodnight Olive’s Championship-earning season saw her capture last year’s Ballerina en route to a 2 1/2-length win over fellow Eclipse Award-winner Echo Zulu in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Keeneland. In Saturday’s seven-furlong engagement, she made amends following a troubled third in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff on May 6 at Churchill Downs, which halted a seven-race win streak.
Under a well-executed ride by Irad Ortiz, Jr., who piloted five winners on Saturday’s program, Goodnight Olive took to the rear of the compact five-horse field down the backstretch. She made a four-wide move at the quarter pole and collared multiple graded-stakes winners Wicked Halo and Caramel Swirl in the final furlong to win by a neck.
Brown credited jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. for executing a well-judged ride.
“He rode a great race and really made all the right calls throughout the race to keep himself out of trouble. The mare really came through and made a couple different moves in the race. I couldn’t be prouder of the horse and Irad both,” Brown said.
Following the Bed o’ Roses, Brown toyed with the idea of stretching her out to two turns, but said Sunday morning that he will likely keep the 5-year-old dark bay mare doing what she does best.
“The more I thought about it, I’ll just keep her sprinting and probably freshen her up for the Ballerina,” Brown said. “It’s the wrong time to do it [try two turns].”
Goodnight Olive is by 2004 Horse of the Year and Hall of Fame inductee Ghostzapper, who Brown worked with when assisting the late Hall of Fame horseman Bobby Frankel.
“They are very similar horses,” said Brown, when asked if there were any similarities between Goodnight Olive and her talented sire. “They look the same, they’ve had the same physical issues in the same areas. She’s got the heart, the will to win and the brilliance of him.
“I’ve trained three really, really top Ghostzapper fillies: her, and [Grade 1 winners] Guarana and Paulassilverlining,” Brown added. “All three are outstanding horses. This one is the closest to her dad with all of her attributes.”
Bred in Kentucky by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings, Goodnight Olive is out of the dual graded stakes winning Smart Strike mare Salty Strike and is a direct descendant of influential matriarch Almahmoud. She was bought for $170,000 at the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale.
Brown also secured triumphs earlier on Saturday’s card when sending out Peter Brant’s 3-year-old debut maiden winner Mischievous Angel in the opener going six furlongs on the Widener turf course against older company. In the race prior to the Bed o’ Roses, he saddled Jeff Drown and Don Rachel’s Exact Estimate to a triumph against winners going one mile over the same course. Both horses are by perennial leading North American sire Into Mischief.
Exact Estimate, a 4-year-old bay colt, made his first two starts on dirt before winning his turf debut in March at Gulfstream Park. He followed with a neck defeat to Saturday’s Grade 3 Monmouth winner Catnip in a Keeneland allowance before earning a career-best 89 Beyer in his recent winning effort. A $375,000 purchase, Exact Estimate is out of the graded stakes placed Dixie Union mare Magic Union and is a half-brother to graded stakes winning dirt marathoner Tizamagician.
Mischievous Angel is out of the Scat Daddy mare Sabrina’s Angel who is a half-sister to Grade 1-winning New York-bred Audible. He was bought for $600,000 at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale.
“Exact Estimate wasn’t panning out on the dirt, so I put him on the grass and breezed him one day and he did brilliant,” Brown said. “Mischievous Angel’s dirt works were solid enough, but he always had the action and the build of a turf horse as he turned three and I could see this more. He’s out of a Scat Daddy mare which you get a lot of turf horses with. He has that really athletic type that I thought would really appreciate running at the top of the ground.”
Klaravich Stables’ Consumer Spending captured the Grade 3 Eatontown at Monmouth Park on Saturday. The gray or roan More Than Ready 4-year-old filly made her second start off a layoff, entering from a runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Beaugay to stablemate Marketsegmentation, who won the Grade 1 New York in gate-to-wire fashion next out.
Consumer Spending, who won last year’s Grade 2 Wonder Again at Belmont, could return to the Jersey Shore oval for the nine-furlong Grade 3 Matchmaker on July 22.
“The logical spot would be the Matchmaker, so I would put that at the top of the list,” Brown said.
Consumer Spending is the second progeny out of the Scat Daddy mare Siempre Mia, whose dam Shaconage was a dual graded stakes-winning turf distaffer. Consumer Spending was bought for $200,000 at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Select Yearling Sale.
