Lure of General George keeps Still Having Fun at home

Still Having Fun had a full and rewarding 3-year-old season, racing from January to December while making 11 starts at seven different racetracks. He began 2018 with back-to-back stakes wins at his home base of Laurel Park, won the Grade 2 Woody Stephens in June on the Belmont Stakes undercard, and polished off his campaign with a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Malibu at Santa Anita.

Although Still Having Fun had to stay in California longer than planned while a flight home was arranged, trainer Tim Keefe has worked him twice at Laurel since his return. Keefe is planning to run him a week from Saturday in the Grade 3, $250,000 General George, one of five stakes on that day’s Laurel card.

The General George will be Still Having Fun’s first race in Maryland since his second-place finish in the Chick Lang on Preakness Day last year at Pimlico. In the meantime he has raced at Belmont (twice), Saratoga, Churchill Downs, Mahoning Valley, and Santa Anita.

“He’s an amazing horse – nothing really fazes him,” Keefe said. “We estimate he traveled around 10,000 miles last year, and he hasn’t shown me anything that he doesn’t like. As long as he’s doing well, we’ve decided to keep marching on with him.”

Still Having Fun is 3 for 6 at Laurel, and the seven-furlong distance of the General George is optimal for him. He comes into the race off a strong effort in the Malibu, where he was beaten 4 3/4 lengths by winner McKinzie.

“We were thrilled with his effort in the Malibu,” Keefe said. “He finished the year up very well for us.”

Still Having Fun showed more early speed than usual under Kent Desormeaux in the seven-furlong Malibu and was in contention along the inside throughout. Although McKinzie won going away, Still Having Fun was second in the 14-horse field just before the wire. He had to settle for third after late-running Identity Politics nipped him for the place by a head.

“I was a little surprised to see him so close early, but he ran great and galloped out real well.” Keefe said. “In his second race, he showed speed like that. Kent said he was running comfortably and he didn’t want to take a hold of him, so he just let him go.”

Still Having Fun races for Gary Barber, Adam Wachtel, and Jim Scott. Keefe purchased him on behalf of Scott’s Terp Racing for $12,000 at the 2016 Fasig Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale in Timonium, Md. Barber and Wachtel bought a majority interest in Still Having Fun after he won his career debut at Laurel.

The son of Old Fashioned has a 4-2-2 record from 13 starts and earnings of $516,000. Keefe plans to keep him sprinting as a 4-year-old.

“Last year we wanted to see if he was capable of a Triple Crown campaign, but he told us the distances were too long and we listened,” Keefe said. “I think this year we are going to keep him between three-quarters and seven eighths.”