The General George Stakes – Grade III
7 Furlongs Dirt Stake Purse $250.000 Open 4 Year Olds And Up.

As yet another BC champion toils down the field in a grade three and yet another horse that had never won a graded stakes wins a race with two BC winners and a BEL winner in it i do find myself scratching my head. Not that this horse won, i gave it a big chance in my write up based on its recent lightening work, but that once more form means nothing compared to a hidden improvement curve. Its clear this horse has been making great improvements but it seems in almost every stakes race we have a different winner that has seemingly improved whilst champions and multiple stakes winners seemingly get a bad run or come to the end of their career’s. The more i look at the form for these races the more i can see a trend towards these sorts of horses that suddenly improve or throw down a vastly improved work.

Anyway enough of my ramblings the bottom line is just two lengths covered the first 9 home and the horse with a good draw and clear improvement in work times took the race by a gutsy nose, here’s how they ran.

1st Tallmadge Star Oquinn Farm McCarthy T

I liked the lightening work this one put down prior to this race and i liked the way he was consistently performing at albeit lower level. Levels dont mean much at HRP though and today this four year old announced he is ready to take on the big guns by shooting down the current BC Sprint champ. Many congrats to the trainer on a deserved win and it would be great to see this one in November for the big race.

2nd Serengeti Sands TwinTowersRacing Lopez P

This one came back to what i think is his best trip to run a cracker just failing to over come the winner in a very close finish. He doesnt win often but always runs well and he shouldnt be far away from a good win in the near future.

3rd Salili Nakamura Stables Gryder A T

Shot to the front and looked like he may stay there but as is often the case at HRP leading at just an average pace doeant mean the same as real life and more often than not the closers catch the front runners. That happened here but this was a good effort over a trip that may have just stretched his stamina a bit too far.

4th Audioslave Alydar Stables Smith M E

Considering her beat a BEL winner and two BC winners the trainer should feel a bit aggrieved that he came away from this race with a net loss. Such is the price for our hobby and the trainer wont be too unhappy with this solid run.

Categories: Grade III, STAKES ARTICLES