BackTrack: Goldencents Starts Year Strong in Sham

I'll Have Another 's 2012 Triple Crown odyssey inspired Dave Kenney, Josh Kaplan, and Glenn Sorgenstein to find some prospects for the 2013 journey. They bought three horses, including Goldencents , who took a big step on that road in winning the Jan. 5 Sham Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita.

"Team O'Neill brought us all in last year," said Kenney. "We celebrated as Team O'Neill. We looked at each other, and we said we were going to have to get our own horse."

O'Neill's brother Dennis, who picked out I'll Have Another and buys many of the stable's runners at auction, brought three horses to the trio—the colt Goldencents and two fillies, Having Abig Middle and Friends With Macy. Goldencents runs for Kenney, Kaplan, and Sorgenstein's W.C. Racing, and University of Louisville's basketball coach Rick Pitino's RAP Racing.

"We thought we had something special in June or July," Kenney said. "His works were exciting."

Goldencents won his racing debut by 7 1/4 lengths, prompting the team to send him to New York. He finished second to Shanghai Bobby in the Champagne Stakes (G1).

"Shanghai Bobby went by us, but we didn't quit," Kenney said. "Then because we were not Breeders' Cup eligible, we chose to go to Delta Downs."

In Louisiana, Goldencents won the rich Delta Downs Jackpot Stakes (G3) Nov. 17 to close out his 2-year-old season. He began this year with the one-mile Sham, Santa Anita's first major prep for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1).

Named for the valiant 1973 Santa Anita Derby (G1) winner who dogged Secretariat throughout his Triple Crown run, the Sham dates back to 2001. Those who have used it as a prep include 2005 Kentucky Derby winner Giacomo, third in the Sham, and 2003 Belmont Stakes (G1) Empire Maker , second in the Sham.

O'Neill and Bob Baffert each entered two horses, though O'Neill scratched Greeley Awesome in favor of an allowance race. The left a field of five, with Goldencents the 2-5 favorite and the Baffert pair, Den's Legacy  and Manando, the second and third choices.

Manando and jockey Martin Garcia went to the lead, while Kevin Krigger on Goldencents sat in second until the stretch drive.

"We thought that with Baffert having two, one closer and one speed horse, Martin would really send hard," said O'Neill. "Kevin said he could sense leaving the gate that (Garcia) was doing that, so he wasn't going to get caught up in a crazy pace duel."

In his previous races Goldencents had set the pace, but he showed that he's "pretty versatile," Krigger said. In the stretch the colt had to deal with both Baffert horses, as Manando didn't give up and Den's Legacy began to close. Racing outside of those two, Goldencents took command nearing the sixteenth pole and won by 1 1/2 lengths in 1:36.50. Den's Legacy outfinished Manando for second.

O'Neill, who took relatively unknown jockey Mario Gutierrez to fame as I'll Have Another's jockey, may do the same for Krigger.

"Kevin is a smart, confident kid who doesn't get a lot of opportunities," said O'Neill.

After Krigger worked Goldencents and told O'Neill, "That might be the best horse I've ever been on," O'Neill suggested he call the owners. Kenney is delighted with the 29-year-old.

"I can't say enough about Kevin," said Kenney. "Kevin rides this horse on a weekly basis. He's in the stall with the horse on a daily basis. I think he feeds him cookies."

Krigger loves the opportunity to ride a horse of Goldencents' caliber.

"I feel guilty if I come to Santa Anita and I don't see him," said Krigger. "I have to see him every day."

Two days after Christmas, Krigger worked Goldencents six furlongs in 1:10 1/5, a move that impressed clockers.

"You wold have to have seen it to believe how easy it looked," said Krigger. "I thought he went in 1:14. Doug came down and said, 'It looked like 1:14.' He called the clockers, and it was 1:10."

A son of Into Mischief —Golden Works, by Banker's Gold, Goldencents cost $62,000 at the 2012 June Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s 2-year-old sale. Rosecrest Farm and Karyn Pirrello bred him in Kentucky.

O'Neill wasn't sure what other preps he will use on the path to perhaps a second consecutive Kentucky Derby victory. Under the new points system for inclusion in the Derby field, Goldencents went to the lead with 24 points, having earned 10 for the Sham.