Goldencents to try turf in Shadwell Turf Mile
DEL MAR, Calif. – Goldencents, the winner of the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes last Sunday and four other stakes in his career, will make his turf debut Oct. 4 in the $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile at Keeneland, co-owner Glenn Sorgenstein said Thursday.
Goldencents will be retired to stud at Spendthrift Stud in Kentucky at the end of the year. A 4-year-old colt, Goldencents earned a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita on Oct. 31 by winning the seven-furlong Pat O’Brien. Goldencents won the 2013 BC Dirt Mile.
Sorgenstein said co-owner Josh Kaplan presented the idea of running Goldencents on turf following the Pat O’Brien.
“We were looking for something at a mile and didn’t want to go a mile and an eighth in the Awesome Again,” Sorgenstein said, referring to the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita on Sept. 27. “He’s best going every four to five weeks. We want to try him on the turf. Why not? It seems like a good fit for him. If he runs lights out on the turf, we have another option.”
Trained by Doug O’Neill, Goldencents has won 6 of 16 starts and $2,434,000. The Pat O’Brien was his first stakes win since the 2013 BC Dirt Mile.
Sorgenstein and O’Neill will run Sammy Mandeville in Sunday’s $300,000 Del Mar Derby over 1 1/8 miles on turf.
The rest of the candidates are Aventador, Enterprising, Flamboyant, Home Run Kitten, Midnight Storm, Sawyer’s Hill, and Talco.