Goldencents to stay home at Santa Anita for BC prep

Goldencents will use the SA Sprint Championship en route to a BC swan song (Breeders’ Cup Ltd. Photo)

Multiple Grade 1 winner Goldencents will not ship to Keeneland for a turf
debut against Wise Dan in the October 4 Shadwell Turf Mile, connections
announced Monday.

“Goldencents will remain in California,” trainer Doug O’Neill said via

Facebook. “His next race will be the Santa Anita Sprint and then onto the
Breeders’ Cup to close out his racing career.”

Goldencents is therefore taking the same route as last year, when missing
narrowly to ill-fated champion Points Offthebench in the six-furlong Santa Anita
Sprint Championship before stretching out to conquer the
Breeders’ Cup Dirt
Mile.

Glenn Sorgenstein, who owns the majority share in W.C. Racing, told

The Blood-Horse‘s Steve Haskin that the decision was made following
the colt’s half-mile move in :52 3/5 over Santa Anita’s turf this past Saturday.

“(Jockey Rafael Bejarano) felt he had good energy, but he was a little
hesitant stretching out over a surface that was unfamiliar to him,” Sorgenstein
said. “He thought maybe Goldencents was over-thinking it a little too much.”

Sorgenstein added that his choice of Breeders’ Cup targets remains open,
depending upon how he performs in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship, also on
October 4. If Goldencents “runs lights out,” he could opt for the Breeders’ Cup
Sprint over the same track and trip instead of a title defense in the Dirt Mile.