General Quarters retired

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.