By Frances J. Karon
Goldencents arrived at Spendthrift Farm just off of Paris Pike in Kentucky shortly after his repeat win in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile-G1 on October 31, 2014. He would have found it much colder in Kentucky than California, where he was based during his three years on the racetrack, but there has been anything but a chilly reception for him. Spendthrift hosted an open house for the duration of the November sales allowing breeders to view this bay son of Into Mischief, and he was quickly booked full.
Bred by Rosecrest Farm and Karyn Pirrello, Goldencents was foaled in Paris, Kentucky, not far from Spendthrift, where he was conceived and where he now stands alongside Into Mischief. Goldencents is a member of his Grade 1-winning sire’s first crop, which numbered 42 foals of 2010. When the colt, out of the Banker’s Gold mare Golden Works, went through the Fasig-Tipton October yearling sale after being withdrawn from the Keeneland September sale, his sale price of $5,500 to Webb Carroll was less than Into Mischief’s $10,000 yearling median. It may not have been obvious at the time but neither figure accurately reflected the future racing ability of the colt nor the sire power of Into Mischief.
Maturing into a $62,000 two-year-old at the OBS June sale, Goldencents was bought by Dennis O’Neill, whose brother Doug trained him on behalf of W.C. Racing. Only one Into Mischief juvenile realized a higher bid than Goldencents, and that was eventual Grade 2 winner Vyjack.
Goldencents quickly showed that his sire was undervalued. The colt was second to eventual two-year-old male champion Shanghai Bobby in the Foxwoods Champagne Stakes-G1 before winning the $1,000,000 Delta Jackpot-G3, and at three he won the Santa Anita Derby-G1 and his first Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile-G1. At four, he was never worse than second, winning the Pat O’Brien Mile-G2 (NTR, 7 furlongs in 1:20.99) in addition to a second Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, and placing in the Metropolitan Handicap-G1, Bing Crosby-G1, and Santa Anita Park Sprint Championship-G1. He earned $3,044,000, and was first or second 14 times in 18 starts.
Goldencents inherited class and brilliance from his sire, and a dash of durability from his female family. His dam Golden Works was a winner of two races, but his second and third dams started 45 and 46 times, respectively. Granddam Body Work, a Canadian-bred daughter of chef-de-race Bold Ruckus, hit the board 35 times from two to six, with 18 wins, including five black-type races.
His exploits season after season contributed in large part to Into Mischief’s bump up from a $7,500 stallion in 2009 to a $35,000 one in 2015. Goldencents begins his career with an advertised stud fee of $15,000. A photo set I tweeted of him at Spendthrift in November generated over 2,100 views on Twitter, which indicates that breeders should have plenty of interest when they bring his progeny to sales.
Sire lines that have suited Into Mischief and his sire Harlan’s Holiday, such as Maria’s Mon (an A+++ eNick), could be used for Goldencents; even foals out of mares with strains of Mr. Prospector (other than Forty Niner) and Storm Cat–both of whom are in Goldencents’s pedigree–will be bred on an outcross.
What is unique to Goldencents is that mares with Seattle Slew will double up on Boldnesian, who is not only the sire of Bold Ruckus but is also a half-brother to Princessnesian, the third dam of Harlan’s Holiday. Bold Ruckus and Seattle Slew have combined in the pedigrees of 13 stakes winners, Sis City-G1, Quaesitor-G3, and Title Contender-G3 among them. This B+ eNick (Harlan’s Holiday over Boldnesian) becomes an A GeoNick when only North America is considered, with three GSWs–Euphrosyne, Riley Tucker, and Saratoga Sinner–from three SWs, plus Goldencents through his second dam. With four Harlan’s Holiday-line GSWs that have multiple strains of the dam of Boldnesian and Princessnesian, trying this cross makes some sense.
