Go Bro has options following King Edward victory

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Go Bro notched a massive upset at 44-1 when he won the Grade 2 King Edward Stakes for trainer Mike Keogh and owner and breeder Gustav Schickedanz on the Queen’s Plate card July 2.

It was the first graded stakes score for the 6-year-old son of Proud Citizen, who appears to have found a niche going long. Go Bro made eight starts in 2016, all in sprints, and picked up two victories. He then started in the Jacques Cartier Stakes on opening day April 15, but following that start, Keogh decided to change things up.

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“I ran him in the Jacques Cartier, and he didn’t run any good,” he said. “I just figured I should try him long because he hadn’t run long in a while. I worked him a mile twice in a row, two weeks apart, out on the dirt, and he worked extremely well both times. That’s why I ran him in that allowance race going a mile and a sixteenth, and he ran huge in there.”

Go Bro matched his career-best 90 Beyer Speed Figure when he ran second to eventual Grade 3 Dominion Day Stakes winner Melmich in that allowance race May 31. From there, Keogh decided to give turf another shot, and Go Bro was pointed to the King Edward Stakes. Go Bro had finished second to My Conquestadory in the Grade 2 Summer Stakes on the Woodbine turf as a 2-year-old in 2013.

Moving forward, Go Bro’s preference to run long and his ability to run on turf provide some options. While Go Bro is nominated to this weekend’s Grade 2, $175,000 Nijinsky Stakes over 1 1/4 miles on turf, Keogh said a more likely spot is the Grade 3, $125,000 Seagram Cup over 1 1/16 miles on Woodbine’s Tapeta on Aug. 13.

“It’s kind of up in the air,” he said. “I nominated him to the Nijinsky, but I’m not sure if he’d want to go a mile and a quarter. We might try the mile and a sixteenth on the Tapeta.”