Uncontested Unchallenged in G3 General George

LAUREL, MD – Robert LaPenta and Harry Rosenblum’s Uncontested went unchallenged from start to finish and proved undeniably the best in Saturday’s Grade 3, $250,000 General George Stakes at Laurel Park.

Breaking from post 3 under Trevor McCarthy as the 3/1 second choice, Uncontested overcame a slight stumble and bumping with Something Awesome to take the lead and post opening fractions of :22.13 and :44.32. Dispatching of early stalker Long May You Run heading into the far turn, Uncontested emerged onto the front stretch still under a hand ride and began drawing off. Under a drive inside the final furlong, the Jennifer Patterson trainee crossed the wire with a length advantage over a fast-closing Majestic Dunhill in a final time of 1:21.06 for the 7-furlong sprint over the fast main track.

“The plan was just to go and get him out and get a nice clean break with him and don’t take anything away from him,” McCarthy said. “He’s kind of a funny horse. As soon as he established his lead, most guys would kind of want to reach back and save a little something, but with him, it’s just let him get into his stride. When he gets that big stride rolling, they ain’t catching him. He’s such a big, beautiful horse, and Jenn has done such a great job with him. I’m just so thankful I get to ride him.”

Closing from the clouds, Majestic Dunhill ran out of real estate before finishing runner-up ahead of Laki in third, while more than one photo was required to differentiate the runners that made up the wall behind him. Do Share took fourth by a 1/2-length over Rockinn On Bye, with the same margin separating Home Run Maker in sixth. Necks and noses were the only differences between him, Still Having Fun, Cordmaker, Life in Shambles, and Something Awesome to determine seventh through 10th. Long May You Run weakened to 11th, while Moe Trouble, It’s Good to Be Us, and Colonel Sharp completed the order of finish.

Uncontested’s win was his first in a graded stakes event and second career stakes score following his $150,000 Smarty Jones Stakes victory in 2017. The 5-year-old son of Tiz Wonderful improved his record to 14-5-1-1 with $391,893 earned.

“It’s amazing,” said Patterson, earning her first stakes win as a trainer. “I was crying. I definitely had tears in my eyes because it was the first stakes race. It’s an honor training a horse like this, and for this horse alone I was excited about coming here and running in this race because he’s been doing so well and I don’t think he’s been able to show how good he really is. He’s got a lot of talent and he is very fast.”

Uncontested returned $8 to win, $5.20 to place, and $4.40 to show. Majestic Dunhill brought back $17.60 to place and $12.20 to show, while Laki paid $4.80 to show.