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General Quarters was this year’s sentimental Kentucky Derby favorite, going off at 10-1 and finishing 10th.
The big gray with a white diamond on his face was a $20,000 yearling purchase who could have been bought for that same price when he won his first career race, a claiming event at Churchill Downs, as a 2-year-old just a few days before Big Brown’s Kentucky Derby.
He was claimed by owner/trainer Tom McCarthy from previous owner Ken Ramsey and trainer Wesley Ward in that race. He was 4-5 to win his debut. coming out under McCarthy’s banner in his next start, the Grade 3 Bashford Manor, he went off at 50-1. He ran to his odds, finishing sixth of seven.
His losing streak went to seven, including his last four of the year in Kentucky and his first two at Tampa Bay, runner-up showings in two listed stakes at Tampa, but McCarthy didn’t lose hope. He was rewarded in the Sam Davis, a Grade 3 event there and the major prep for the Tampa Derby. He won comfortably at 13-1. He had some excuses in the Tampa Derby, closing nicely to finish fifth of 10, then shocked the country with his 14-1 victory in the Grade 1 Blue Grass
| Video | Date | Race Name | Distance | Finish |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 05/02/2009 | Kentucky Derby (Churchill Downs) | 1 1/4 Miles | 10th | |
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04/11/2009 | Blue Grass (Keeneland)td> | 1 1/8 Miles | 1st |
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03/14/2009 | Tampa Bay Derby (Tampa Bay Downs) | 1 1/16 Miles | 5th |
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02/14/2009 | Sam F. Davis (Tampa Bay Downs) | 1 1/16 Miles | 1st |
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01/17/2009 | Pasco S. (Tampa Bay Downs) | 7 Furlongs | 2nd |
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12/27/2008 | Inaugural S. (Tampa Bay Downs) | 6 furlongs | 2nd |
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11/29/2008 | Allowance (Churchill Downs) | 6 1/2 Furlongs | 3rd |
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11/08/2008 | Allowance (Churchill Downs) | 1 Mile | 8th |
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10/18/2008 | Allowance (Keeneland) | 6 Furlongs | 2nd |
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10/04/2008 | Allowance (Keeneland) | 7 Furlongs | 4th |
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07/05/2008 | Bashford Manor (Churchill Downs) | 6 Furlongs | 6th |
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05/30/2008 | Maiden Claiming (Churchill Downs) | 4 1/2 Furlongs | 1st |
JULIAN LEPAROUX
Scion of a racing family just outside Chantilly in France (his late father, Robert, was a jockey in his youth who became an assistant trainer), the 25-year-old came to the U.S. in January, 2003, to work in California for fellow Frenchman Patrick Biancone.
He won his first race, at Saratoga aboard Easter Guardian, in 2005, and in 2006, while still an apprentice, recorded the most wins ever (28) for a ‘bug’ rider at that classy meet. He won the Eclipse Award for apprentices that year.
Known as a rider who can get a hot hand at any time, he’s won six and seven races on a card at Churchill Downs.
TOM MCCARTHY
General Quarters, as you might guess, is the star in the one-horse stable of owner/trainer, a 75-year-old retired high school principal.
“How cool would it be if he won,” said Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, whose mother also was a school principal. Baffert was born not far from where, and just years after, McCarthy helped his uncle train quarter horses in Arizona.
McCarthy always tinkered with racehorses but became a biology teacher at Seneca High School in Louisville (“Home of the Red Hawks”) to pay the mortgage. The colt’s groom, Jerry Hills, is a former student.
Bill Mott, Churchill Downs’ winningest trainer and, like Baffert, a Hall of Famer, introduced himself to McCarthy and told him, “You’re a natural.”
MR. & MRS. R. DAVID RANDAL
The Randals are California residents who have been breeding horses for more than 30 years and who own Fallbrook Farm near Versailles, Ky. They purchased Ecology for $120,000 while she was in foal to Sky Mesa, carrying General Quarters, at the 2005 Keeneland November and they sold General Quarters for $20,000 at Keeneland September yearling sales in 2007. (General Quarters) was just a big, gangly foal,” Mr. Randal told Daily Racing Form. “Even as a yearling, you wouldn’t think he was going to be what he turned out to be when you first saw him. He was a large, average-looking horse.”
