Goldencents Breeders’ Cup Solid With Blinkers

Goldencents Breeders’ Cup Solid With Blinkers 

Goldencents comes to this year’s Breeders Cup as a 3-year-old colt that hails from Kentucky and is a Multiple Graded Stakes Winner. Goldencents was first sold as a yearling at a bargain price of only $5,500 and has since worked his way up in value as he has now earned $2,158,000 and finished out his Juvenile season having won the $1 million Delta Downs in 2012 and also finishing first in the 2013 Sham Stakes and the 2013 Santa Anita Derby.

Goldencents is part owned by Rick Pitino, who is the coach of the University of Louisville’s men’s basketball team along with Dave Kenney of W.C. Racing. He is trained by Doug F. O’Neill and his jockey for the Breeder’s Cup will be Rafael Bejarano.

Despite a disappointing 17th place finish at the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, and a 5th place finish in the Preakness, trainer Doug O’Neill is still hopeful as Goldencents gears up to for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile on November 1st. Goldencents worked five furlongs on the main track at Santa Anita in 59 seconds flat.

Goldencents will be a starter in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, and though he has not won a race since the Santa Anita Derby on April 6th, since O’Neill has had Goldencents shorten up to one turn and added blinkers; Goldencents has started performing more solidly.

Trainer Doug O’Neil recently reported, “Right now we could go either way with him in the Breeders’ Cup, the Sprint or Dirt Mile,” said O’Neill. “But I do believe he is definitely a Grade 1-caliber sprinter.”

Beginner’s Note: Sometimes horse trainers will add “blinkers” to help the horse focus on the track in front of him and the task at hand. The blinkers prevent the horse from looking behind him and sometimes beside him. Occasionally,  the opposite effect happens with blinkers and they end up spooking the horse instead of calming him, like in the case of Palace Malice in the 2013 Kentucky Derby.

Related Links:
Interview with Doug O’Neil
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