That left a third Baffert runner, Goal-oriented as a market choice, and with due respect to Barnes and Cornucopian, Goal Oriented duly delivered in a style that suggested it would have been very difficult for that duo to handle. He flew home from a slow pace and scored by a length, covering 7 furlongs in a very fast 1:20.97, and had a career Beyer Speed Figure of 108, a number only bettered by one. Sovereignty and eloped on December 27 Aqueduct racecourse allowance optional claiming scorer Tired Eighty-eight among the 3-year-olds of 2025.
Goal Oriented came into the Malibu looking thoroughly exposed, but it is worth noting that the Malibu was his first one-inning match since his debut, in which he won a six-furlong match. Santa Anita Park first special weight match in early April. A leader on the 1 1/16 mile Churchill Downs Goal Oriented, who was an optional claimant on the Kentucky Derby (G1) undercard, made a leap to the top echelons of the competition with his third start and saw him tackle the Preakness Stakes (G1). There he got a big bump Journalism squeezed between rivals early in the stretch and finished fourth, losing by 6 3/4 lengths. Purposefully facing the Preakness 1-2, Journalism and Gosger in the Haskell Stakes (G1), and came much closer, missing by half a length and a neck as Journalism and Gosger again occupied the first two places. Goal Oriented’s other two starts were a third, with a lead of 4 1/4 lengths Baeza And Size in the Pennsylvania Derby (G1), and a distant sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1), which faded after a long journey.
We discussed Goal Oriented’s father, Not this time more than once in this column recently. Winner of the 2016 Iroquois Stakes (G3) and runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) in his only racing season. Not This Time is a Giant’s Causeway half-brother of the successful sire Liam’s card . Not This Time was retired to Taylor Made Stallions near Nicholasville, Kentucky, for the 2017 breeding season and was represented by 17 individual stakes winners in his first crop. Since then, he has been on an almost uninterrupted upward trajectory and for 2026 his fee is $250,000.
Goal Oriented is his 15th individual stakes winner from his current crop of three-year-olds, and his current juvenile crop, which has already produced nine individual stakes winners, has him on the cusp of a title as leading sire of two-year-olds for 2025. Through December 29, Not This Time has a $121,539 lead over Into Mischief with juvenile entries for both stallions on December 31. Goal Oriented is the 11th Grade 1 winner for Not This Time, the others including 2022 Champion 3-Year-Old Male Epicenter and 2023 artificial grass male champion Until the Mark .
The mother of Goal Oriented, Bizzy Caroline (by Afleet Alex), was an accomplished runner, winning the 2011 Regret Stakes (G3T) and the 2012 Mint Julep Handicap (G3T) and placing in four other black events. She was a half sister of Lady Eli champion artificial grass females in 2017, as well as Sacre Caroline, mother of Holy three-time group winner in England and runner-up against men in the 2023 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes (G1) at Royal Ascot. Despite these qualifications, Bizzy Caroline has been a somewhat disappointing producer to date, for although seven of her other eight named foals had reached the races, only three had won and none had earned as much as a place in the black-type company.
The second dam, by Goal Oriented, Sacre Coeur, was a winning 2-year-old daughter of Saint Ballado. Her own dam, the French-bred Kazadancoa, also produced the winners Jacodra’s Devil (by Saint Ballado’s brother, Devil’s Bag), Changing Ways and Jacodra. Overall, Kazadancoa appears as the ancestor of a total of 25 stakes winners, and in addition to Goal Oriented, her group and grade 1-winning offspring include Palace Episode; Spring in the air champion 2-year-old filly in Canada in 2012; Dear Loretta ; And Seasoned perfection .
Kazadancoa, a daughter of Green Dancer, is a sister to The Dancer, a black-type winner who also finished third in the 1980 Epsom Oaks (G1). Dam of three stakes winners, The Dancer also appears as the third dam of 2000 Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner The Deputy, and that horse’s half-brother, King Kamehameha, a champion in Japan and a breed-building sire there. Kazadancoa is out of the classically bred Khazaeen, a daughter of Charlottesville, winner of the 1960 Prix du Jockey Club (French Derby), and is a half-sister to the mother of champion racehorse and outstanding sire Blushing Groom.
Goal Oriented has a rather intriguing pedigree. His grandmother, Sacre Coeur, is a son of Saint Ballado and, as mentioned, her mother comes from a half-sister of Blushing Groom’s mother. Not This Time’s sire, Giant’s Causeway, is out of a mare by Rahy, a daughter of Blushing Groom out of champion Glorious Song, a sister of Saint Ballado. To add to this, Giant’s Causeway is a grandson of Storm Bird, and Sacre Coeur is a mare by a son of Nijinsky II, a horse with significant pedigree similarities to Storm Bird. As a result, 11 of the 16 ancestors from the fourth generation of the pedigree of Goal Oriented’s second mother can also be found in the pedigree of his grandfather Giant’s Causeway.
Overall, the combination of siblings Glorious Song and Saint Ballado looks to be a very effective combination for Not This Time as out of 14 starters with that pattern he has six stakes winners, five of which are graded, including a Grade 1 winner in the form of Tooth burn . He is also the father of grade 3 winner Dream on from two starters out of mares carrying Devil’s Bag, another sibling to Glorious Song and Saint Ballado.
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