Seacoast Thoroughbreds of New England's New York homebred General Banker, who finished a closing third in the Jerome on Jan. 7 at Aqueduct Racetrack, had his first breeze back over the Belmont Park dirt training track Sunday.
The son of Central Banker covered a half-mile solo in :49.65, which ranked 25th of 116 timed moves at the distance.
“I had him a few ticks faster than the clockers did, but he galloped out five-eighths pretty good,” said trainer Jimmy Ferraro.
General Banker earned his first stakes victory two starts back with an emphatic maiden-breaking score in the $500,000 NYSSS Great White Way, dominating his 10 rivals by 8 1/2 lengths with a rallying trip under Eric Cancel. He made his open company debut in the Jerome and finished third after racing keenly and running up on the heels of a foe down the backstretch.
“He was a little on the muscle last time,” said Ferraro. “I don't know if he would have won, but he would have been closer if he hadn't been [so keen].”
Ferraro said General Banker has been nominated to the nine-furlong $250,000 Withers (G3) Feb. 4 at the Big A, which offers 20-8-6-4-2 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-five finishers.
“We're going to take a good look at that,” said Ferraro. “They've got the [state-bred] Gander on Feb. 25 going a mile, too.”
General Banker boasts a 9-1-3-1 record with total earnings of $363,600.
Also breezing Sunday over the Belmont training track was Chester and Mary Broman's graded stakes-placed New York-homebred Arctic Arrogance breezed six furlongs in 1:15 flat. The Frosted colt, trained by Linda Rice, finished a game second last time out in the Jerome. He also is one of 20 horses nominated to the nine-furlong Withers.
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