The General George Stakes – Grade III (P2)
LRL Race #16 7f Dirt Stake
Purse $250.000 For Four Year Olds And Upward.

1st Anna Da Artist Smokey Stover Rodriguez A R

With a leader that was instructed to be restrained flying to a clear early lead it was a matter of which of the closer’s would finish best and it was as expected when this gelding got clear air and stormed home. With the stalker out of the equation it tends to be a matter of which closer is closest on the turn these days and this one was perfectly ridden and, in the end, won pretty easily. He is building a really good record, and I often say the sign of a good horse is that they can perform on any surface and any trip, and this was coming back from a 12-furlong marathon to win over a trip he was already proven over. The 1:36 flat work he threw a couple of weeks ago was clue enough that he was on a steep climb up his improvement curve, and he won like a horse than could be a BC threat in the coming months.

2nd Contradiction Aer Stables Pennington F

Came from a long way back which was to be expected for a horse that was running his first sprint for a long time this was a decent effort and would’ve given the trainer some food for thought. He doesn’t win often but sometimes these good three-year-olds can have an off four-year-old season and then come on strong at five and that looks like it may be the case for him.

3rd Electric Angelos Stable Gutierrez Mario

Came in third in a whole heap of challengers at the end and proved that his future may well lay in this sort of grade. I would imagine he will be aimed at the dirt sprints this year in an attempt to make the BC and this was promising enough to make that a goal.

4th Papa Nature Night Rider Stables Karamanos HA

There was a whole bunch of horses vying for the paying places and this one came out fourth after looking dangerous coming into the final furlong. He just whacked away a bit at the end, but this was a strong field, and he did pretty well.

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES