NEWS
General Quarters turns in final Derby workout
Posted: Thursday, April 23, 2009 12:55 PM
GENERAL QUARTERS
PhotosByZ.com/Keeneland
by Jeff Lowe
Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) winner General Quarters breezed five furlongs in 1:01.80 on Thursday morning at Churchill Downs in preparation for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1).
The workout is the only major move on the schedule for General Quarters between the Blue Grass and Kentucky Derby.
“I was looking for between 1:01 and 1:02, so this was perfect,” owner-trainer Tom McCarthy said. “I wanted a nice, steady work, and that is what I got. I did not want anything like his work before the Blue Grass [:58.20 on April 4]. I am happy with the work.”
McCarthy prefers long, slow gallops for the Sky Mesa colt. He said earlier this week that he was very pleased with General Quarters’s condition after the Blue Grass on April 11 (click here for video of the Blue Grass).
“He came out of that race just super,” McCarthy said. “When we got him back he wasn't even breathing hard. The next morning, went in there and we took the poultice off him and began to walk him around the barn and he just wanted to play. He'd pull us around. I mean he just about numbed my arm after about 20 minutes. That's how tough he is.
“And he's come back just sensational. He seems to have matured and grown a lot in the last couple of months. He's beginning to become the racehorse I thought he could become. In the beginning he was green and there was a little bit of a learning experience but now I think he realizes what it's all about and I think he'll go on.”
General Quarters also won the Sam F. Davis Stakes (G3) (click here for video of the Sam F. Davis) and finished fifth in the Tampa Bay Derby (G3) (click here for video of the Tampa Bay Derby) at Tampa Bay Downs. Julien Leparoux will ride him for the first time in the Derby.
Also on Thursday, trainer Saeed bin Suroor said jockey Alan Garcia would stay aboard Regal Ransom for the Kentucky Derby and Ramon Dominguez will ride Desert Party.
Bin Suroor was at Churchill on Thursday and will oversee the colts’s final workouts on Saturday.
“I was surprised at how well they looked,” bin Suroor said. “Sometimes horses don’t travel well, but they look happy and in good condition. They look better to me than they did in Dubai.”
Jeff Lowe is a THOROUGHBRED TIMES staff writer
