Arlington Million (G1) candidate GENERAL QUARTERS (Sky Mesa), owned and
trained by Tom McCarthy and hero of the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (G1) at
Churchill Downs, is being pointed for an intermediate return to the main track
under the Twin Spires for Churchill’s Stephen Foster H. (G1) on June 12.
“The Arlington Million is still my main goal for the summer,” McCarthy said
Friday morning, “but I’ve got to get a race into him pretty soon to keep him on
schedule. That prep (the Arlington H. [G3]) isn’t until July 17. He needs
something between now and then.
“I really don’t want to take him off the grass,” McCarthy added, “but there’s
nothing (in the Midwest on the grass) coming up for him in the next couple of
weeks. I’ve been contacted by the people in New York ( for Belmont’s Manhattan
H. [G1] June 5) and the people in New Jersey (for the United Nations S. [G1] on
July 3), but I don’t want to send the horse all the way up there. That would be
too hard on me and too hard on the horse.”
The Arlington Million is scheduled for August 21.
General Quarters was credited with a half-mile breeze in 48 3/5 over the main
track at Churchill Thursday morning, but that time was inaccurate, according to
McCarthy.
“That time they gave him is wrong,” McCarthy said. “I got him in :46 and
change and when the horse came back I asked (jockey) Robby (Albarado) how he
went and he indicated 46 and change. We can’t both be two seconds off.
“The breeze went fine. When (General Quarters) came back to the barn he
wasn’t even blowing, and he ate up everything that night. However, I’m probably
looking for a new rider.
“I was hoping I could get Robby to ride him (in the Stephen Foster) but he
may have another commitment. Then I called (Rafael) Bejarano (who rode General
Quarters in Churchill’s Turf Classic) and he has commitments in Southern
California that day, so I don’t know for sure who’s going to ride him. I haven’t
made up my mind just yet.”