Speedy Uncontested burns up track in General George

Uncontested showed he was fast at Laurel Park in December when he came off the bench following a nine-month layoff to blitz optional-claiming company by six lengths and earning a 100 Beyer Speed Figure. On Saturday at Laurel he took his game to a new level by sizzling seven furlongs in 1:21.06 to win the Grade 3, $250,000 General George by a length.

Long May You Run broke like a shot from post 14 in the General George but Uncontested joined him from the inside under jockey Trevor McCarthy as they put some distance between themselves and the other 12 members of the field. Uncontested disposed of 70-1 Long May You Run nearing the far turn and drew clear. He gutted it out in the final furlong but was able to hold safe late-running Majestic Dunhill.

The fractions were 22.13, 44.32, and 1:08.61 en route to a final clocking of 1:21.06. The seven-furlong Laurel Park track record is 1:20.95, which was set by Greenspring in 2010.

Uncontested is conditioned by Jennifer Patterson, who began training in 2018. The General George is Patterson's first stakes win and improved her record to 18-5-3-1.

Patterson worked for Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey from 2006 to 2014 and exercised a number of his top horses, including 2013 Kentucky Derby winner Orb. She ran McGaughey's barn at the Fair Hill Training Center in 2014 before heading to Kentucky, where she worked for Charle Lopresti, Brendan Walsh, and Victoria Oliver.

"It’s a great feeling to win a stakes," said Patterson, who is stabled at the Thoroughbred Training Center outside Lexington, Ky.

She said Uncontested was pointed to the General George because of how well he handled the Laurel surface in his December victory.

"The way he performed over the track, the General George had to be next," Patterson said. "He has such speed you don't ever want to take that away from him."

Uncontested, who is owned by Harry Rosenblum and Robert LaPenta, paid $8 as second choice to 2-1 Still Having Fun, who finished seventh after failing to reach contention.

Laki, who was in a contending position throughout, finished third, 1 1/4 lengths behind Majestic Dunhill.

Uncontested is now 5 for 13 with earnings of $391,893. The General George is his second stakes win. He won the 2017 Smarty Jones at Oaklawn Park in his second career start.