Post-Race Review

Pre-Race Analysis

Only six horses make up the San Carlos Handicap (gr. II), a seven-furlong sprint at Santa Anita Park on Saturday. Due to the short field, which is likely caused by the presence of heavy favorite Georgie Boy, the race is early in the card, going off at 2 pm Pacific as the fourth.

 

It’s hard to look past Georgie Boy, a sensational state-bred gelding who has won half of his ten lifetime starts and is $2,000 shy of making $700,000. Georgie Boy won the Del Mar Futurity (gr. I) as a two-year-old, then won two Kentucky Derby preps last spring, then rebounded this year to win the Sunshine Millions Sprint in impressive fashion on January 24^th, earning a 95 for Aerobic Efficiency, a 102 for Stride Quality, and an 89.8 average, the highest in the field. This brilliant son of Tribal Rule has had some difficulty with injuries, but when “right,” Georgie Boy is nearly unstoppable. Kathy Walsh trains, and Garrett Gomez will ride.

 

However, Georgie Boy isn’t invincible and this field is actually quite capable of upsetting him. Breaking from the rail is Star Nicholas, a six-year-old Poteen gelding who won the On Trust Handicap at Hollywood Park in December. When second in an allowance optional claimer by a neck in November, Star Nicholas received a 106 for Aerobic Efficiency and a 93 for Endurance, which resulted in an 89.8 average, equal to Georgie Boy’s record high. Michael Baze, the horse’s regular pilot, is back on board today.

 

Halo Najib is an interesting play; the chestnut son of Halo’s Image was forced onto the Kentucky Derby trail last year with little luck, then was off for the second half of 2008 while recovering from injury. Sent to Southern California and placed under the care of trainer Mike Mitchell, Halo Najib rebounded to finish third in the Palos Verdes Handicap (gr. II) behind the speedy Johnny Eves on January 25^th. That was a solid comeback effort and Halo Najib should only improve going forward.

 

 Last summer, Past the Point was one of the most talked about horses for a few days at least, when the unremarkable son of Indian Charlie ran Curlin to a length and a quarter in the Woodward (gr. I) at Saratoga at odds of 40 – 1. Since that effort, Past the Point’s best performance came when finishing second to Slew’s Tizzy in the Native Diver (gr. III) at Hollywood on December 6^th, and last out, Past the Point ran a disappointing seventh over the Santa Anita synthetic track in the San Pasqual (gr. II). The San Pasqual has become a productive race, as winner Cowboy Cal returned to win the Strub Stakes (gr. II) next out, and third place finisher Magnum returned to win the San Antonio (gr. II).

 

Mutadda, who is entering the race off a listed stakes victory at the Fair Grounds, and the spotty Yankee Bravo, who at one point was good enough to run in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I) last year but hasn’t started since, complete the field.