Goldencents staying home for Sprint Championship

Trainer Doug O’Neill had thought about sending Goldencents to Keeneland to take on two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan in the Shadwell Mile. But after working Goldencents over the grass at Santa Anita on Saturday, O’Neill said the turf experiment will be put on hold.

“He breezed on turf the other day and went okay, but my rider said he thought we should work him a couple of more times on it before running him on the grass,” O’Neill said by phone from California on Monday morning. “We’re listening to the horse, and right now he’s telling us not to run him on the turf.”

O’Neill said he will now keep Goldencents home and target the Grade 1 Santa Anita Sprint Championship on Oct. 4 for his final Breeders’ Cup prep. O’Neill said Goldencents could run after that in either the Breeders’ Cup Sprint or Dirt Mile, which he won last year.

Goldencents has started three times this season, finishing second in both the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap and the Bing Crosby before winning the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien at Del Mar by 4 1/4 lengths on Aug. 24.