Goldencents Targets Santa Anita Derby

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.