Goldencents tops Crosby field
DEL MAR, Calif. – Led by Goldencents, an outstanding field of sprinters is set to contest the Grade 1, $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes on Sunday at Del Mar.
Goldencents, who won the Santa Anita Derby and Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile during an outstanding campaign at age 3 last year, comes off a terrific runner-up effort behind Palace Malice in the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont Park in his 2014 debut June 7. Rafael Bejarano, who rode him in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile but missed the Met Mile because of injury, is back aboard.
Goldencents should be favored in the six-furlong race, but the competition is stiff. Others expected to enter Thursday include Declassify, who won the Grade 1 Triple Bend on June 28 at Santa Anita; Big Macher, freshened since a win in the Grade 2 Potrero Grande on April 12; and Kobe’s Back, Pablo Del Monte, Seeking the Sherif, and Wine Police.
The Crosby is a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, owing to it being run on a synthetic surface.
There are two other supporting features this weekend, both for California-breds. On Saturday, the fast, unbeaten Sunday Rules should be a prohibitive favorite against just a handful of expected challengers in the $200,000 Fleet Treat Stakes, for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs.
On Sunday, Unusual Heatwave, Mega Heat, and Ethnic Dance – the first three finishers in the Crystal Water at Santa Anita on June 8 – are set for a rematch in the $150,000 California Dreamin’, a 1 1/16-mile grass race for 3-year-olds and up. Others likely for the California Dreamin’ include Rock Me Baby and Starspangled Heat, and possibly Boozer and Stoney Fleece.