General strikes ‘Gold’ again

GENERAL JN just held on to win the leading one-turn turf event on the calendar for the second time in three years when the Arima Race Club’s (ARC) 2023 Season got going yesterday at Santa Rosa Park, Arima.

The Jamaican-bred eight-year-old held off 6/5 favourite Super Bird to take the NLCB (National Lotteries Control Board) Sian’s Gold Sprint by a short-head with former champion apprentice Dillon Khelawan in the irons.

Cool Cat, who relegated Super Bird to the runner-up spot in last year’s edition, finished three-and-a-quarter lengths back, and Marvel Vigor rounded out the top four in the 1,100-metre contest.

After finishing fifth as the top fancy in last year’s edition, General JN was actually retired to stud.

But owner Jerry Narace decided to bring the 2018 Trinidad Derby Stakes runner-up back to the track late in the season, and after he trailed a field of nine on return on November 12, he stunned Santa Rosa into silence by winning the Stewards Cup at odds of 18/1 three weeks later.

Punters learned their lesson for ignoring General JN in the leading open sprint on the calendar, as he closed as the 9/5 second fancy in yesterday’s penultimate event after leading the way for most of the betting time.

As was the case in the Stewards Cup, Glenn Mendez’s charge was sent straight to the front in the Grade III contest, but he did not have an uncontested lead this time as Super Bird and Marvel Vigor were breathing down his neck from the start.

General JN opened a three-length lead turning for home, but a determined Super Bird, toting six kilos less, started to erase the deficit, but just could not get his head in front despite drawing level in the last 50 metres or so of the $66,000 affair.

The good news for Super Bird’s breeder/owner Hugh Leong Poi is that he won three straight times on grass, including the Champagne Stakes, after finishing runner-up in last year’s edition.

General JN, who prevailed in this event two years ago on his turf debut, has an enviable record of three wins and a second from five career outings on the surface.

The son of Forest Danger has won 11 of his 29 starts on the main track.

It was a dream day of Narace, as in addition to his almost $40,000 winners’ cheque in the feature, he also led his other runner on the NLCB-sponsored seven-race programme into the winners’ enclosure.

Firecracker, also bred by the first vice-president of the ARC, beat two fellow debutants and four one-time starters in the third event, the NLCB Fast Cash in convincing fashion, with former champion jockey Nela Mohammed up.

The 9/5 second fancy made all the running in the 1,100-metre contest for locally-bred three-year-old maidens, and was followed home by evens favourite Harts Gap, Blinding Lights and Angry Bird, who had also placed second, third and fourth, respectively, in the St James/St Ann’s Stakes a month ago.

Both Firecracker, whose dam Rocket Wheels was a classic contender for Narace a few years ago, and General JN are handled by multiple champion trainer Mendez.

Horse racing continues in Arima on the Saturday after Carnival, February 25.