Goldencents to Remain in California

After working on the grass Sept. 20, Goldencents  ' trip to Keeneland to face Wise Dan in the Shadwell Turf Mile (gr. IT) Oct. 4 has been canceled, majority owner Glenn Sorgenstein said.

Instead, last year's Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (gr. I) winner trained by Doug O'Neill will stay home and run in the Santa Anita Sprint Championship (gr. I) on dirt Oct. 4, the same race in which he prepped for the Dirt Mile last year, finishing second to Points Offthebench.

"After Goldencents worked out on the grass at Santa Anita (Sept. 20), we all huddled up and decided we'd be asking too much of him to travel and run in the Shadwell," said Sorgenstein, majority owner of W.C. Racing. "(Rafael Bejarano) felt he had good energy, but he was a little hesitant stretching out over a surface that was unfamiliar to him. He thought maybe Goldencents was over-thinking it a little too much.

"Doug felt if we had more time to get him out on the grass more often he'd take to the surface better. But right now time isn't really on our side.

"We're going to listen to Goldencents, who was kind of giving us the cue that maybe the best thing to do is keep him out here and shoot for the Santa Anita Sprint as we did last year, and use that as a tune-up for either the Dirt Mile, or if he runs lights-out, the (Xpressbet) Breeders' Cup Sprint (gr. I). It all comes down to doing what we feel is right for him, and he's telling us, 'Keep me on the dirt.' If this was May, it would be a no-brainer, but it's so close to the end of the year that it makes it problematic."

Goldencents, a 4-year-old son of Into Mischief   who will be retired to Spendthrift Farm at the end of the year, has run only three times this year, but all three have been big efforts, starting with a game second to Palace Malice in the Metropolitan Handicap (gr. I) off more than a six-month layoff, followed by a narrow defeat in the grade I Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs. In his last start, he resorted to the front-running tactics that won him the Dirt Mile and scored a 4 1/4-length victory in the seven-furlong Pat O'Brien Stakes (gr. II) in a sprightly 1:20.99.

Goldencents, bred in Kentucky by Rosecrest Farm and Karyn Pirrello, has won six of 16 career starts, including the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I), with six seconds for earnings of $2,434,000.