It isn’t often that a horse can keep up top form from 2 to 4 years of age, but Goldencents is one of those impressive animals who has been around the top for three seasons.
His latest success came on Aug. 24 when he won the Pat O’Brien Stakes, setting a track record at Del Mar and securing a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. If all goes according to plan, Goldencents could become the first back-to-back winner of the Dirt Mile, which he also won in 2013.
Let’s take a look at Goldencents and see how the colt’s career has progressed from that of a talented Triple Crown hopeful to one of the top milers in the country.
Race Résumé
Goldencents roared onto the racing scene at Del Mar two years ago when he won a 5½-furlong maiden race for 2-year-olds by 7¼ lengths. He made his first journey across the country in his second start when he finished second to eventual champion 2-year-old male Shanghai Bobby in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes.
In Goldencents’ next four starts, he won three times, including the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby. His win assured him a spot in the Kentucky Derby and his record of four wins in six starts pre-Derby sent him off as a 7.90-to-1 shot in the field. He finished 17th in the Kentucky Derby and fifth in the Preakness Stakes, convincing his connections to drop him back to shorter distances, a very smart move for the horse’s career.
Goldencents had to adjust to the shorter sprints that he was put in and reeled off a trio of second-place finishes in Grade 1 and Grade 2 sprints at six and seven furlongs, including the 2013 Pat O’Brien Stakes. But going back up to a mile for the Breeders’ Cup found him back in the winner’s circle as he led from start to finish in the Dirt Mile for the biggest win of his career.
As a 4-year-old, Goldencents has raced three times and seemed to fall back into bridesmaid position in his first two races. He finished a length behind 2013 Belmont Stakes winner Palace Malice in the Metropolitan Handicap, which was followed by a second in the Bing Crosby at Del Mar, a repeat of the previous year’s performance.
But Goldencents saved his best performance for his third start of the year with another front-running win in the Pat O’Brien that saw him speed through the seven furlongs in a time of 1:20.99 for a 4½-length victory. Ironically, the horse who held the track record, Fed Biz, finished second behind Goldencents.
“That was the plan — to be aggressive with him,” said trainer Doug O’Neill. “(Jockey) Rafael (Bejarano) gave him a brilliant ride. There was some talk that Fed Biz would be on the lead but we took it to ‘em. The first quarter went twenty-two and four and we were on the lead. He knows the horse well and this is a brilliant horse as shown by this performance."
Even though a track record was involved, Goldencents didn’t earn his highest-ever Equibase Speed Figure. He took home a 114 for the effort, three points under the career-best figure he earned in the Cigar Mile Handicap, where he finished seventh after a rough race. Even though it is pretty obvious by his résumé, the speed figures back up that Goldencents is better at shorter distances with all of his better figures coming at a mile or less.
One of Goldencents’ best assets is his speed and when it is dulled, he doesn’t seem to do as well. While he can sit behind another horse, all of his wins have come when he is either first or second throughout. Since he is so fast and running at shorter distances, this isn’t a big disadvantage as he has proved he has the speed he needs to get up there and that he can hang out behind another horse if that is the better route.
Pedigree
Goldencents is by Grade 1 CashCall Futurity winner Into Mischief and out of Golden Works.
Into Mischief is still a young sire with only 63 starters from three crops to race as of Sept. 7, but he has done well with those opportunities. In addition to Goldencents, he is the sire of Grade 2 winners Vyjack and Vicar’s in Trouble and Grade 3 winner Can the Man. Into Mischief is also the half-brother to two-time champion Beholder.
Golden Works is a two-time winner, whose wins came at six furlongs when she was four. She only has one other horse to race, a gelding named Thunder Command, who also won twice at sprint distances.
Perhaps the strongest horse in Goldencents’s female family is his second dam. Named Body Works, she was a multiple stakes winner who earned $252,755 during her career. She produced four winners but none of those horses won stakes races. Goldencents is definitely the best horse to come from his female family’s first four generations as he is the only horse to win a graded stakes race, however, one other horse in his family was second in a Grade 3.
Goldencents is scheduled to take an unconventional route to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile as he is currently aiming to take on Wise Dan in the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile in early October. Goldencents has never raced on turf before but as he is retiring at the end of the year, his connections have nothing to lose if he doesn’t take to the surface.
If his track-record-setting run is any indication, Goldencents is rolling back into his best form and that should be a scary thought for any horse who is looking to face him at the Breeders’ Cup.
