General Quarters retired

Last updated: 11/28/11 5:40 PM

General Quarters and Tom McCarthy were the feel-good story going into Derby 135
(Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography)

Owner/trainer Tom McCarthy has decided to retire his multiple Grade
1-winning millionaire

General Quarters in the wake of his non-effort in last Friday’s
Grade 1 Clark Handicap, according to Daily Racing Form. For some
time the only horse in retired high school principal McCarthy’s stable,
General Quarters provided a sentimental story in the build-up to the
2009 Kentucky Derby.

McCarthy had liked him as a yearling at the Keeneland September Sale,
but bowed out when bidding reached $20,000. In a twist of destiny,
General Quarters made his debut for a $20,000 tag at Churchill in May
2008, and McCarthy jumped in to claim him. The gray colt happened to win
that first start, suggesting that the claim would be fortuitous.

General Quarters progressed over the following winter at Tampa Bay
Downs, where he was housed in the barn of Mark Miller. He finished
second in the Inaugural and Pasco before rolling to a 3 1/2-length upset
in the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis, but was only fifth in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay
Derby.

Back at McCarthy’s Churchill base, General Quarters tuned up for the
Grade 1 Blue Grass with a blistering five-furlong move in a bullet :58
1/5. Few took the hint, and he drove to a convincing victory at odds of
14-1 at Keeneland.

General Quarters, and his affable septuagenarian owner/trainer, were
on their way to the Kentucky Derby. The fairy tale ended with a 10th in
the slop, and after a ninth in the Preakness Stakes, he underwent
surgery to remove a bone chip from his knee.

Reappearing at Fair Grounds that winter, General Quarters rounded back into
top-class form. He was runner-up in all of his races at the historic New Orleans
oval, from his comeback in a six-furlong optional claimer, to the Louisiana
Handicap, the Grade 3 Mineshaft Handicap and the Grade 2 New Orleans Handicap.

McCarthy then decided to put him back on turf for the first time since his
juvenile days, in the Grade 1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on Derby Day 2010.
His second appearance on the first Saturday in May turned out to be a much
happier occasion than his first. General Quarters outdueled Court Vision, this
year’s Breeders’ Cup Mile shocker, to win another Grade 1 title.

Third when reverting to dirt for the Grade 1 Stephen Foster Handicap at
Churchill, General Quarters had no luck on the grass at Arlington Park that
summer. A knee chip was discovered after his seventh in the Grade 1 Arlington
Million, requiring surgery and effectively ending his season.

General Quarters showed his old sparkle in his return, just missing to the
accomplished Native Ruler in a June 10 optional claimer beneath the Twin Spires.
But he ran well below form in four of his five remaining starts, with a second
in the Grade 2 Kentucky Cup on September 24 the only exception. His 22-length
drubbing in the Clark, where he trudged home last of 13, was the final straw.

Stud plans are pending for the five-year-old, who retires with a 27-4-9-2
record and $1,226,655 in earnings.