Fed Biz gets nod over Goldencents as Pat O’Brien favorite
Del Mar, CA (SportsNetwork.com) – Defending winner Fed Biz has been installed as the 2-1 morning line favorite over Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner Goldencents for Sunday’s $250,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes at Del Mar.
The seven-furlong sprint, which precedes the Pacific Classic, has drawn a field of eight with Fed Biz getting post 2 and 5-2 second pick Goldencents starting from post 5. Martin Garcia will again ride the favorite and Rafael Bejarano is reunited with Goldencents.
Trained by Bob Baffert for Kaleem Shah, Fed Biz won last year’s Pat O’Brien by a length over Goldencents at odds of 7-1 to the runner-up’s 9-10. However, Fed Biz was sixth in the Dirt Mile after a two-month absence from the races.
Fed Biz notched his sixth lifetime win in last month’s San Diego Handicap and has banked $660,496 in 16 starts.
The horse is perfect in three career starts over Del Mar’s main track. Coming into this year, Fed Biz had the Del Mar record of 1:21.12 for seven furlongs.
“He’s doing really well. He loves Del Mar, and he just really handles the surface,” Baffert said. “I didn’t want to ship him because I want to run him here and then I’m going to run him in the Awesome Again, the prep for the, either the Mile or the Breeders’ Cup Classic. I just wanted to maybe try him there.”
Trained by Doug O’Neill. Goldencents began his 2014 campaign with a second- place result to Palace Malice in the $1.25 million Met Mile on the Belmont Stakes program June 7. The colt followed with another runner-up finish to Big Macher, 3-1 for Sunday, in last month’s Bing Crosby Stakes.
Goldencents, owned by Glenn Sorgenstein and Josh Kaplan of W.C. Racing, won the Dirt Mile last November at Santa Anita as the 7-2 second choice. Ridden by Bejarano, he defeated Golden Ticket by 2 3/4 lengths by setting the pace the entire distance.
Also in 2013, the colt won the Sham Stakes and Santa Anita Derby before finishing 17th in the Kentucky Derby. He was fifth in the Preakness and then posted three straight second-place finishes in the Bing Crosby, Pat O’Brien and Santa Anita Sprint Championship Stakes.
In 15 career starts Goldencents has five wins and six seconds for $2,284,000.
Here is the field for the Pat O’Brien from the rail out: Diamond Bachelor, Julien Couton, 12-1, Fed Biz, Martin Garcia, 2-1, Silentio, Victor Espinoza, 8-1, Syndicated, Kent Desormeaux, 15-1, Goldencents, Rafael Bejarano, 5-2, Color Of Courage, Joe Talamo, 15-1, Big Macher, Tyler Baze, 3-1 and Indexical, Mario Gutierrez, 10-1.
The Pat O’Brien has an approximate post time of 8:12 p.m. ET.
Categorized in: Horses