Kathy Walsh on Georgie Boy

[The Indomitable DrugS]

From DRF:

Georgie Boy, the dominant sprinter in California this winter, is likely to make first start outside his home state in the Grade 2 Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland on April 11.

Owned by George Schwary and trained by Kathy Walsh, Georgie Boy has won his last two starts - the $300,000 Sunshine Millions Sprint on Jan. 24 and the Grade 2 San Carlos Handicap on Feb. 21.

"I'm thinking of it, but I haven't finalized it with George," Walsh said of the Commonwealth.

A successful trip to Kentucky could lead to a start in the $600,000 Metropolitan Handicap over a mile at Belmont Park on May 25, Walsh said.

"I want to see how he travels," Walsh said. "He's never left home."

This kind of caught me off guard because KW has handled this horse with such extreme conservatisim and has really put herself in a position to be further rewarded for it.

I think she's making an unneccessarily aggressive low-upside decision here though.

She might not run a horse in a Grade 2 150K stake at Santa Anita on SA Derby day - that would be about a 1/5 favorite next week - and will instead ship him to Keeneland and race him over that oddball surface for slightly more money ... with the long range goal being a 600K stake in NY - on a surface that GB has never run on - in a so-called "stallion making" race that still does nothing to help a gelding's value at stud.

Since they've installed the Pro-Ride at Santa Anita - post time favorites have racked up a 15-for-27 (56%) record in Graded Stake races. The sprint division out there is a total mess and a Cal bred gelding like GB can stay put and clean house from an earnings standpoint leading into the Breeders Cup.

Meanwhile, post time favorites in Graded Stakes at Keeneland are just 5-for-43 (11.6%) since they've installed the synthetic .. chaos rules there.

It's very surprising to see such aggression with so little additional upside from a horse that has been handled so carefully and seems like the division's last remaining survivor out West.

It is actually now possible that Halo Najib - who has lost 9 races in a row - all of them by at least 2.5 lengths or more - and has not won a sprint race since his debut at KEE two years ago ... will be the post time favorite in next Saturday's Grade 2 Potrero Grande.