Goldencents zips six furlongs at Santa Anita

Goldencents fired a bullet ahead of the San Felipe (Benoit Photos) Multiple Grade 3 winner Goldencents and recent acquisition Mudflats each worked six furlongs for Kentucky Derby-winning trainer Doug O’Neill before Saturday’s 1ST race on Santa Anita’s wet-fast main track. Each horse worked separately with an eye toward the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes on March 9. Goldencents went in a bullet 1:10 1/5 under regular rider Kevin Krigger, the best of a total of eight works at the distance on Saturday. His fractional times were :22 4/5, :45 3/5 and :57 4/5. Mudflats, with Julien Leparoux aboard, posted splits of :24 4/5, :49 1/5 and 1:01 3/5 en route to his final time of 1:14 1/5. “Goldencents worked like a champ,” O’Neill said of the Into Mischief colt, who exits back-to-back wins in the Grade 3 Sham and Grade 3 Delta Downs Jackpot. “I’m very happy.” Aqueduct maiden winner Mudflats, seventh in the Grade 2 Jerome in his debut for the barn, is a work in progress. “I’m trying to get Mudflats to keep his mind on business, so it’s something we’ll have to work on,” the trainer added.

The 1 1 /16-mile San Felipe is a major steppingstone to the Grade 1 Santa
Anita Derby at 1 1/8 miles on April 6.

Due to off track conditions, only 30 workouts were recorded during regularly
scheduled hours Saturday morning.

Bob Baffert’s duo of Grade 3 hero Den’s Legacy and Manando, the respective
second and third behind Goldencents in the Sham, each covered a half-mile in :49
3/5.

Stablemate Carving, the winner of the Real Quiet but only sixth in the Grade
1 CashCall Futurity, drilled five furlongs in :59 3/5.

Also for Baffert, Super Ninety Nine, runner-up in the Grade 3 Hollywood
Prevue two back, ripped six panels in 1:11 3/5.

O’Neill’s multiple Grade 1 veteran Richard’s Kid worked six furlongs in 1:13
3/5. Fourth in the Grade 3 Native Diver in his latest, the eight-year-old will
switch to turf for the Grade 2 San Marcos February 9.

Before Friday’s 1ST race, O’Neill-trained He’s Had Enough and Handsome Mike
worked in company on Santa Anita’s wet/fast track.

Breeders’ Cup Juvenile runner-up He’s Had Enough covered six furlongs in 1:10
4/5 with Mario Gutierrez, while older stablemate Handsome Mike clocked 1:11
under Tyler Baze.

“Handsome Mike was just kind of cruising when He’s Had Enough came up
alongside of him,” said Doug’s brother, Dennis. “Handsome Mike’s a good work
horse, but the other one still hasn’t quite figured it out yet. Mario was really
getting after him (He’s Had Enough) to finish up.

“Handsome Mike was just breezing — on the gallop-out, Handsome Mike was much
the best.”

The four-year-old Handsome Mike is scheduled to run against Game On Dude in
next Sunday’s Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes, a forerunner to the Grade 1 Santa
Anita Handicap on March 2. The winner of last year’s Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby,
he was most recently fifth in the Grade 2 San Fernando.

He’s Had Enough, a disappointing fifth in the CashCall Futurity last out,
goes in Saturday’s Grade 2 Robert B. Lewis Stakes at 1 1/16 miles.

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