“An Amazing Ride,” Hanley Prepares For Last Chapter with Goodnight Olive

Jay Hanley considers himself lucky to have had more than his fair share of highs in horse racing, but he has also gone through plenty of mishaps, frustrations and heartbreaks.

A co-owner of champion Lady Eli (Divine Park), he was there for the ups and downs of the extraordinary mare's career as she fought a seemingly insurmountable battle with laminitis and returned to the top of the sport.

Then there is Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper – Salty Strike, Smart Strike), who overcame two setbacks early in her career and went on to take her ownership group on an unforgettable journey as she earned championship honors for top female sprinter last year and now looks to defend her title for 2023.

“Her career has meant the world to me,” Hanley reflected. “To get to watch her up there on stage doing her thing has been absolutely magical for my family, my partners and me. I've been very lucky and blessed in my ownership career, but there is no horse that means more to me than Goodnight Olive. She is a testament to generations of breeding, to Liz Crow who selected her, and to Chad Brown and his team that cared for her because there was nothing easy about her career.”

A graduate of the 2019 Fasig-Tipton Fall Yearling Sale, Goodnight Olive is a daughter of Ghostzapper out of MGSW Salty Strike (Smart Strike). She was an $170,000 purchase by Liz Crow for the ownership group of Team Hanley and Steve Laymon's First Row Partners.

“This filly's pedigree really stood out in the book,” Crow recalled of her purchase. “It's hard to find a Ghostzapper filly that is out of such an accomplished mare. When I saw her, she was very athletic. She was bred by Stonestreet–one of the best breeders in the country. I think she was in the October Sale because they wanted to give her a little more time to develop. She's a really big, strong filly now but when we bought her, she was a little on the small side and just hadn't quite developed into the beast she is today. Chad is generally right on about a horse's talent level and he loved her from day one. She just took some time to get going.”

Enthusiastic owners celebrate Goodnight Olive's 2022 GI Ballerina H. | Sarah Andrew

Definitively breaking her maiden by eight and a half lengths at Keeneland in her second start, Goodnight Olive won her next two races as a sophomore with an ease that was reminiscent of her sire's brilliant career.

“Right away when she came into the barn she reminded me of Ghostzapper,” Brown explained. “I was lucky enough to be around that horse quite a bit when I worked for Bobby Frankel and I've had good luck with Ghostzapper offspring. Goodnight Olive has a ton of heart like her father and she has never had a bad day of training.”

Toward the end of Goodnight Olive's 3-year-old season, ankle chip issues that had prevented her from racing as a juvenile resurfaced and she was forced to the sideline. Hanley recalls his emotions at that time.

“When I first found out she had to take another break, I was a little sad,” he admitted. “These generational talents don't come around that often. I was sad for the sport because while we knew what we had, the sport didn't yet.”

But Hanley and his partners were rewarded for their patience when Goodnight Olive returned as a 4-year-old last year. Her undefeated season culminated with an eye-catching graded stakes debut in the GI Ballerina H. followed by a 2½-length victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, besting a field that included champion Echo Zulu (Gun Runner) and three other Grade I winners.

“That was my favorite win by far,” said Hanley. “It's rare in a seven furlong race at the Breeders' Cup level when you know you have the race won at the quarter pole. I was down by the finish line and we were cheering her on from the moment she put her nose in front right around the turn. That was 15 seconds of pure elation.”

Sarah Andrew

The 2022 Champion Female Sprinter, Goodnight Olive returned at five this year to claim her third straight Grade I score in the Madison S. at Keeneland. She later added the GII Bed o'Roses S. to her resume and was most recently second to Echo Zulu in the GI Ballerina, where she earned a career high 108 Beyer Speed Figure.

Goodnight Olive has since been training at Belmont Park as she prepares to defend her title at the Breeders' Cup in what is most likely her final career start.

“She's doing great,” Brown reported. “She had a tough defeat last time to a really, really good filly. She's going to have a nice break between starts and I'm hoping she goes out a winner. She's trained with such consistency. Every day she comes out and she's the same horse. She's very dependable and has taken her track with her wherever she has raced. She's really one of the best fillies I've ever trained.”

“Anybody can lose on any given day, but I'm going into this last dance with a good deal of confidence,” added Hanley. “I'm so happy we can see her on the world stage again and I hope she can pull it off. If she does, it would be an amazing way to wrap up her career.”

Win, lose or draw, Goodnight Olive will head to Kentucky immediately after her Breeders' Cup performance to sell at Fasig-Tipton's November Sale. The decision to sell Goodnight Olive was one that Hanley and his partners arrived at together, but parting with their star mare will not be easy.

“The sadness is very real and it runs very deep, but the reality is that I'm not one of the guys in the sport who can take home a talent like this,” Hanley explained. “I think this is the final chapter in book one of her life story. Now she gets to go write book two. Chapter one of that book will start at the Night of the Stars. It's with sadness that I feel like she's leaving my immediate world, but also with great anticipation and joy that I know what she's going to do.”

Hanley has been at the racetrack for nearly all of Goodnight Olive's performances, but it's the mornings spent at the barn that he will remember more than any winner's circle.

Goodnight Olive gets a third straight Grade I score in the Madison S. | Coady

“She is a love of a mare,” he said. “You can walk up and she just nuzzles into you. You look into her deep brown eyes and you know that she knows what you're feeling. There were times I was sad, angry or anxious and she would just absorb all of it. This is a very intelligent horse. I would say her mind is light-years ahead of any other horse that I've ever had.”

Hanley told the story of how his father-in-law, who is a Vietnam combat veteran, has also fallen in love with the mare.

“He doesn't show emotion toward a lot of humans but when he met her, within 10 minutes his arms were around her and she was leaning into him,” he shared. “He's been to a lot of races with me and he doesn't ask about any other horse other than Goodnight Olive. She has brought our family together and provided an amazing journey for my family and partners. To me, the sadness of selling her comes from that.”

Goodnight Olive will sell as Hip 237 on Nov. 7 with EliTE Sales. Fasig-Tipton's Boyd Browning said he is looking forward to showcasing a champion Fasig-Tipton graduate.

“We take a great deal of pride in seeing our sales graduates run well and she has been special,” he said. “Goodnight Olive really epitomizes everything you're looking for in a racehorse. She's got brilliance, pedigree and conformation. She certainly has speed– which is an attribute that I think you particularly look for in mares, that they have the opportunity to pass that on to their offspring. Really the sky is the limit and the opportunities are endless in terms of who you can breed her to and what you might be able to produce.”

“I think Ghostzapper is becoming such a prolific broodmare sire,” added Crow. “He's the broodmare sire of Justify and 35 other stakes winners already. She's an exceptional physical and her mom was a heck of a runner. I think she's really a collector's item.”

After the Breeders' Cup, Hanley will also be making the trip to Kentucky for the sale. He is hopeful that his farewell to Goodnight Olive there is only temporary.

“It's amazing to think that her racing career is over, but she has so many great years ahead,” he said. “I hope that wherever she goes, my kids and I can go visit her and give her love and treats. I know that she will be an amazing mom and it's a safe bet that we'll be keeping a keen eye out for her babies.”