Goldencents Worth a Bet at the Kentucky Derby

If winning really is infectious, Goldencents could be the best bet for Saturday’s 139th running of the Kentucky Derby. Goldencents is currently set at +800 at Sports Interaction in the Fastest Two Minutes of Sports and at that price, might be worth its weight in, well, gold at the finish line.

Goldencents is the toast of trainer Doug O’Neill’s barn these days. O’Neill is no stranger to training high-profile horses after saddling last year’s Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner, I’ll Have Another. In many ways, Goldencents is following in I’ll Have Another’s footsteps. Goldencents has won four of six career starts and is coming off a 11/4-length win at the Grade I Santa Anita Derby – the same race I’ll Have Another won before his Derby win.

“I’d say he’s pretty darn close to equal to where I’ll Have Another was last year,” O’Neill told reporters recently. “I think I got in some trouble with letting this horse work too fast leading up to the earlier races this year. One way I’ve found to keep them more consistent is not do too many speed drills, because that can get them on their toes, and this horse is already on his toes.”

The good vibes don’t end there. Rick Pitino, head coach of the NCAA-Championship winning Louisville Cardinals and recent inductee into Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, owns a five percent stake in Goldencents.“I do it for fun, with people I like,” Pitino told reporters. “It’s a hobby and a meaningful distraction from a job that takes so much time. I get a chance two weeks a year to watch horses run in person.”

Exercise rider Jonny Garcia took Goldencents on his first workout at Churchill downs Monday and O’Neill liked what he saw from the three-year-old. ”He looked great,” O’Neill told reporters after the jog. ”We just had an easy day with him, but I was real happy with the way he looked, Jonny was happy with the way he felt. If all goes well, we’ll gallop him tomorrow.”

In Goldencents’ run last Thursday at San Anita, he went six furlongs in 1:16:20 and raised a lot of eyebrows by finishing the last three of those furlongs in 36.00. It’s trips like those who have the Goldencents hype machine running on overdrive as Kentucky Derby nears. At +800, Goldencents might be worth a wager.