Difficult to deny Goldencents in bid for a repeat
ARCADIA, Calif. – Goldencents absolutely blitzed them last year, easily winning the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile with a brazen show of early speed.
A year later, Goldencents returns to the Dirt Mile as quite possibly the heaviest favorite in any of the 13 Breeders’ Cup races to be run this weekend at Santa Anita. He will start from the favorable rail post and is likely to employ familiar tactics while facing eight others Friday in the eighth running of the $1 million Dirt Mile.
“Goldencents might just be better than the rest of us, but they run these races on the racetrack, not on paper,” said Kelly Breen, who trains one of the top challengers, Pants On Fire. “We’ll try to keep as close as we can and then hopefully reel him in.”
Owned by the W.C. Racing partnership of Glenn Sorgenstein and Josh Kaplan and trained by Leandro Mora, Goldencents will have Rafael Bejarano back aboard when trying to become the first two-time winner of the Dirt Mile. Goldencents is listed as a 6-5 program choice in the Dirt Mile, which is carded as the seventh of 10 races (post time, 3:05 p.m. Pacific).
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Mora became listed as trainer after his longtime boss, Doug O’Neill, was suspended this month by the Breeders’ Cup because of rules pertaining to medication violations.
Mora lost a second starter from the Dirt Mile when it was revealed Tuesday that longshot Handsome Mike will be scratched. Assistant trainer Jack Sisterson said the 5-year-old “just didn’t seem like himself,” leading to his withdrawal.
Besides Pants On Fire, the other top challengers to Goldencents appear to be Fed Biz, trained by Bob Baffert, and Tapiture, trained by Steve Asmussen.
“When I look at [past performances] for this race, all I see is Goldencents, Goldencents, Goldencents,” Baffert said. “You’ve got to get past him to get the money. Our horse is doing good, so we’re going to try him.”
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Tapiture has been brought along in calculated fashion by Asmussen since a 15th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.
“We regrouped him after the Derby, and he’s responded brilliantly,” Asmussen said.
The Dirt Mile was first run in 2007 at Monmouth Park. The distance for next year has yet to be determined because the host track, Keeneland, is not configured to accommodate a one-mile race on dirt. Rogers Beasley, director of racing for Keeneland, said it will be run around two turns at 1 1/16 miles (with a short stretch) or at the one-turn Beard Course distance of seven furlongs and 184 feet.
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KEY CONTENDERS
Goldencents (Last 3 Beyers: 105-109-100)
◗ This 4-year-old Kentucky-bred colt owns a 3-2-1 record from 6 starts over the local surface, including wins in the Santa Anita Derby and BC Dirt Mile last year; an impressive record indeed.
◗ Noting that the colt broke from the far-outside post in wiring the field last year, Mora said in obvious understatement: “I think the rail is a positive because of the speed he has.”
Tapiture (Last 3 Beyers: 100-101-92)
◗ Winchell Thoroughbreds and trainer Asmussen won the Dirt Mile here two years ago with 15-1 Tapizar, another Tapit colt, and this one will be a considerably lower price. This colt clearly has regained confidence and circled into peak condition since his Derby debacle.
◗ He is one of two 3-year-olds in this race, along with Vicar’s in Trouble; both enter in good form. Three-year-olds have won two of the last three runnings of the Dirt Mile: Caleb’s Posse in 2011 and Goldencents last year.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 9 Tapiture. Trainer Steve Asmussen is 15-4-4-0 with a $3.22 ROI over the past two years in dirt route graded stakes in the second start following a layoff. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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Fed Biz (Last 3 Beyers: 101-99-104)
◗ He was never a threat in the 2013 Dirt Mile and did not race for nearly nine months afterward. The time off did him well, as he has run three strong races in preparation for this. Now he cuts back in distance while needing enough pace to soften up Goldencents for the stretch drive.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 8 Fed Biz. Trainer Bob Baffert is 46-4-12-5 with a $0.64 ROI over the past two years with older horses in Grade 1 dirt routes. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
Pants On Fire (Last 3 Beyers: 106-98-105)
◗ Well-managed 6-year-old was seventh in this race last year before a failed effort in Japan led Breen to give him an extended break. His terrific 2014 speed figures and the last-out Charles Town romp give credence to Breen’s assertion that the horse “has never been better in his life.”
DRF FORMULATOR FACT:No. 4 Pants On Fire. Trainer Kelly Breen is 83-29-14-9 with a $3.81 ROI over the past five years going sprint to route on dirt. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
Golden Ticket (Last 3 Beyers: 93-98-77)
◗ This $1.3 million earner closed stoutly against the speed bias here last year when second to Goldencents and merits consideration on that effort alone, not to mention a nice two-back score in an ungraded stakes in New York.