Female Sprint Champ Goodnight Olive Tops Bed o' Roses

When trainer Chad Brown says he's looking forward to seeing Goodnight Olive  run in the Bed o' Roses Stakes (G2), there's a special emphasis on the "run" part.

Back on May 6, defending female sprint champ Goodnight Olive was a huge 1-2 favorite in a field of six for the Derby City Distaff Stakes (G1) at Churchill Downs. But after seven straight wins, including last year's Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1), the 5-year-old Ghostzapper   mare was pinned on the rail and could not find running room on the final turn and through the stretch.

The end result was a third-place finish two lengths behind the victorious Matareya , who was in front of her along the inside, and one length in back of the runner-up Wicked Halo , who was on Goodnight Olive's flank much of the way.

"They had had her pinned and trapped," Brown said. "(Jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr.) ate her the whole stretch run."

After seeing a string of three straight grade 1 wins come to end on Kentucky Derby Day, Goodnight Olive will try to get back on the winning track when she tops a field of five that also includes Wicked Halo in the $200,000 Bed o' Roses Stakes for older fillies and mares June 17 at Belmont Park.

Owned by First Row Partners and Team Hanley, Goodnight Olive enters the seven-furlong Bed o' Roses with a career mark of seven wins in nine starts, with a second and third and career earnings of $1,466,200. 

She was bought by First Row Partners, Liz Crow agent, for $170,000 from the Summerfield consignment at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale.

Bred by Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings out of the Smart Strike mare Salty Strike , the Eclipse Award winner has won five of her six starts at seven furlongs, her high water mark in terms of distance. Brown did toy with the idea of running her against the top distance females in the June 10 Ogden Phipps Stakes (G1) at 1 1/16 miles, but elected to keep her at a sprint distance.

"She's doing well now. We want to keep her sprinting," Brown said. "We took a good look at the Phipps, but I'm not ready to run her that far just yet. Maybe later in the year."

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Wicked Halo also rates among the leading distaff sprinters. The homebred daughter of Gun Runner   trained by Steve Asmussen has won seven of her 13 career starts. The 4-year-old filly has been unplaced only once in her career, with one second and four thirds to her credit.

She rallied from sixth to finish third in the seven-furlong Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, 3 1/2 lengths behind Goodnight Olive.

The small field also includes Godolphin's Caramel Swirl , a 5-year-old Union Rags   mare who won the Vagrancy Stakes (G3) at Belmont in her last start. Trained by Bill Mott, the homebred was second behind Goodnight Olive by a little less than three lengths in the Ballerina Handicap (G1) last year at Saratoga Race Course.

Rounding out the field are Charles Matses' Beguine , second in the Garland of Roses Stakes two starts back, and Dr B , runner-up in the Vagrancy and winner of the Go for Wand Stakes (G3) in her start before that.