General Jack Sprints to the Finish in Centaur
General Jack used an impressive sprint to the finish to win the ninth running of the $200,000-added Centaur Stakes Wednesday, July 2 at Indiana Grand Racing & Casino. The win was the second stakes win on the card for jockey Robby Albarado and Mike Maker, who also connected for a win with Quiet Force in the $100,000-added J. Kenneth Self Shelby County Boys & Girls Club Stakes earlier in the card.
Starting from post 10 in the field of 10, General Jack was the quickest out of the gate and settled in nicely on the outside of Here’s Johnny and Malcolm Franklin while Broadway Zen and Corey Lanerie excelled to the top followed by Laddie Boy and Stewart Elliott in a stalking position in second. Albarado kept General Jack content and in place before accelerating toward the leaders in the final turn of the one mile turf race and the horse found an opening, shooting to the lead and drawing off for a victory by three lengths over Captain Dixie and Carlos Marquez Jr., who rallied in for second. Broadway Zen held his own for third.
“He (General Jack) broke well and the post position was to my advantage,” said Albarado. “He got more aggressive around the second turn and then sprinted home. This is a very, very nice horse and Mike (Maker) has done a nice job with him.”
General Jack paid $5.40, $3.60 and $2.80 across the board as the favorite of the field. The win marks the third career trip to a winner’s circle in eight career starts for Maker, who co-owns the three-year-old chestnut colt with Tom Conway, who is an attorney in Louisville, Ky.
“Mike (Maker) was spot on with his preparation of this colt and had him fit,” said Conway, whose son, Jack is the current Attorney General in Kentucky and will run for Governor of Kentucky in 2015. “We purchased this colt from the Two-Year-Old in Training sale at Keeneland last April. Robby rode him perfectly today. He seems to have found a home on the turf and we are hoping for some big wins from him.”
General Jack is now three for six over the turf course with the Centaur Stakes becoming his biggest to date. His earnings nearly doubled with his Centaur Stakes win, and the son of Giant’s Causeway now has more than $234,000 in career earnings.
“On paper, it looked like there was a lot of speed in this race, but Robby let him (General Jack) run and placed him well early on,” said Maker. “It has taken a while for him to come around but we are very pleased with him and have high expectations for him.”
Maker noted in an interview with HRTV’s Peter Lurie, who was on track to assist with the afternoon’s racing program, that General Jack will be pointed toward the 37th running of the Grade I $500,000-added Secretariat Stakes at Arlington Park coming up in August.
The Centaur Stakes pulled in the highest single race handle of the 2014 meet thus far with a total of $298,260 wagered on the event. In all, the 10-race program that featured three stakes over the turf and included nine Thoroughbred races and one Quarter Horse race garnered more than $1.728 million in handle from all sources. The afternoon also kicked off the first turf races of the 2014 meet, which underwent renovations from the previous year under the direction of Track Superintendent Johnnie Jamison.
“Congratulations to the guys that got the turf course like it is,” said Albarado. “The surface is fantastic and they’ve done a really great job with it.”