Doug O’Neill reports that Sham Stakes winner Goldencents came out of
his fourth-place finish in last Saturday’s San Felipe Stakes in good
order and it’s on to the April 6 Santa Anita Derby and a rematch with
San Felipe runner-up Flashback and new jockey Garrett Gomez.
“He came out great,” O’Neill said of Goldencents, who weakened
late to be beaten 2 ½ lengths in the San Felipe. “He looked fantastic.
I’ve got to do a little better job training him. I will, and we’ll be
tough in the Santa Anita Derby.”
Tiz a Minister, who rallied from another county under Gomez to
finish third by a length in the San Felipe, is being considered for the
Grade I Blue Grass Stakes on Keeneland’s Polytrack on April 13.
“He came out of the San Felipe fine, and I haven’t worked him
back yet,” trainer Paul Aguirre said of the late-running California-bred
son of Ministers Wild Cat. “I don’t have a jockey for him right now if
we run in the Santa Anita Derby, but if we go in the Blue Grass, Gomez
would be available to ride him back.”
A less-accomplished O’Neill 3-year-old, Mudflats, who worked six
furlongs Thursday in a bullet 1:12.80, is ticketed for the Grade III,
$800,000 Sunland Park Derby on March 24. “He worked great,” O’Neill
said. “We were just looking for a good stretch and a good finish and he
did just that, so we’re excited. He came out of it good and he flies out
next week to New Mexico with a couple other horses.”
Edwin Maldonado, whose two wins Thursday moved him into second
place in Santa Anita’s standings with 40, rides Mudflats in the Sunland
Park Derby.