Still Having Fun back where he started for General George

The home team has fared well in recent years in the Grade 3, $250,000 General George, with the Maryland-based Something Awesome, Page McKenney, and Bandbox taking three of the last five runnings of the seven-furlong race.

On Saturday, Laurel Park-based horses once again figure prominently, with Still Having Fun, Something Awesome, and Laki contenders in the 14-horse field. In all, eight Laurel Park runners will take on shippers from Florida, Kentucky, New York, and Pennsylvania.

If last year’s General George winner, Something Awesome, prevails, he would become the first two-time winner of the race since its inception in 1973.

Favoritism likely will go to either Still Having Fun or Uncontested, who is based at the Thoroughbred Training Center outside Lexington, Ky.

Still Having Fun made his first five starts at Laurel last year, including wins in the Frank Whiteley Jr. and Miracle Wood, before hitting the road. He scored the most important victory of his 3-year-old season in the Grade 2 Woody Stephens at Belmont Park and concluded his campaign with a third-place finish to McKinzie in the Grade 1 Malibu at Santa Anita.

Trainer Tim Keefe has worked Still Having Fun three times since his return from California, including a move in company last Sunday. Keefe is confident Still Having Fun is ready to kick off his 4-year-old season.

“He had a little break after the Malibu, but he’s plenty fit,” Keefe said. “Three works should be fine for him.”

Still Having Fun has closed from well back in many of his races but was in contention throughout in the Malibu. It would be to his advantage not to drop too far back in Saturday’s bulky field.

The General George will be Still Having Fun’s second start against older horses. He finished sixth in the one-mile Kelso at Belmont in September.

“Coming out of the 3-year-old ranks, he’s going to be going up against older horses with a lot of experience, but he has a lot of experience himself now,” Keefe said.

Flavien Prat will ride Still Having Fun, who has put together a 13-4-2-2 record and earned $516,000.

Uncontested shipped to Laurel in December to make his first start following a nine-month layoff. He won the high-level optional-claiming sprint by five lengths and earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure.

That race was his first for trainer Jennifer Patterson, who said the key to Uncontested is to manage his allergy problems so he can breathe efficiently. She doesn’t think the stretch-out from six to seven furlongs will be a problem.

“He’s a speed horse, and the question is will anyone push him?” she said. “There is no reason to think he can’t go seven furlongs. I think it will be fine for him.”

Something Awesome is a deep closer at this distance. He fits well in the race but is returning on three weeks’ rest after finishing 10th in the Pegasus World Cup. He also is marooned in post 13.

The Laurel-based contingent also includes Laki, who always tries hard and figures to be in the mix from the outset; Home Run Maker, who has won three races in a row; and Cordmaker, who is facing the toughest assignment of his career but is in sharp form.