Cordmaker Cuts Back for Seven-Furlong General George

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots isn't the only track staging a stakes six-pack Feb. 19. So, too, is Laurel Park, where the $250,000 General George Stakes (G3) and $250,000 Barbara Fritchie Stakes (G3) headline a Saturday program with $900,000 in stakes purses. 

Both the General George and Barbara Fritichie are seven furlongs on the Laurel Park main track, a trip shorter than what Hillwood Stable's nine-time stakes winner Cordmaker has been competing. The 7-year-old son of Curlin   has run at a mile or longer in 15 consecutive races.

Cordmaker owns two wins and a second in eight career tries at seven furlongs, a distance he last tried Aug. 20, 2020, when he finished fifth. Those races came in the midst of an uncharacteristic 10-race losing streak that ended in the Harrison E. Johnson Memorial Stakes last March.

Since then, Cordmaker has won four of seven starts, including the Victory Gallop Stakes last summer at Colonial Downs and the Richard W. Small Stakes and Robert T. Manfuso Stakes by open lengths at Laurel to end 2021 and clinch the dirt male title and the overall championship in the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred Championship Series.

Cordmaker held on to edge Hanalei's Houdini  by a neck in the one-mile Jennings Stakes for Maryland-bred/sired horses Jan. 29 at Laurel to kick off his 2022 campaign and stretch the win streak to the longest of his career. He has 13 overall wins, 10 at Laurel, and $839,640 in purse earnings from 35 starts.

"We've never had an all-around horse like him, no. He kind of does what we ask him to do and we kind of do what he asks us to do," trainer Rodney Jenkins said. "The first race he ran when he turned 4, I saw it then. He really put out and you could see he could run. Other times, he'd run in spots but now he runs like you want him to.

"I think he's more of a racehorse now than he's ever been," he added. "He used to do things when he felt like it. Now, you can put him in a race, train him for the race, and it all comes out pretty good."

In previous graded stakes attempts, Cordmaker ran third in the historic Pimlico Special Stakes (G3) in 2019 and 2020 and fourth in 2021, fifth in the 2019 Suburban Stakes (G2), and eighth in the 2019 General George.

"It would be great for him (to win a graded stakes race)," he added. "He's not a stud colt, so it's not going to help his breeding, but it would be very nice for him. He deserves it."

Victor Carrasco, aboard for 24 of Cordmaker's starts, including each of the last 10, gets the return call from post 2 in a field of seven.

Cordmaker will see some familiar faces in fellow Laurel-based stakes winners Air Token , Threes Over Deuces , and Shackqueenking .

Shipping in from the Midwest to make his 4-year-old debut is Willow's Green Stables' Timeless Bounty . A 59-1 upset winner of the $250,000 Steel Valley Sprint Stakes last November at Hollywood Gaming at Mahoning Valley Race Course, Timeless Bounty hasn't raced since finishing fifth in the Runhappy Malibu Stakes (G1) Dec. 26 at Santa Anita Park.

Completing the field are Built Wright Stables' Sir Alfred James  and Trin-Brook Stables' War Tocsin .

Entries: General George S. (G3)

Laurel Park, Saturday, February 19, 2022, Race 9

• Grade III
• 7f
• Dirt
• $250,000
• 4 yo's & up
• 4:45 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1War Tocsin (KY)	Dexter Haddock	122	Uriah St. Lewis	20/1
2	2Cordmaker (MD)	Victor R. Carrasco	122	Rodney Jenkins	7/5
3	3Shackqueenking (KY)	Jaime Rodriguez	122	Gary Capuano	9/2
4	4Sir Alfred James (KY)	John McKee	122	Norman L. Cash	3/1
5	5Threes Over Deuces (KY)	Xavier Perez	122	Gary Capuano	8/1
6	6Timeless Bounty (MI)	Malcolm Franklin	124	David Wilson, Jr	12/1
7	7Air Token (MD)	J. D. Acosta	122	Jose Corrales	9/2

Jakarta, Glass Ceiling Lead Barbara Fritchie

A race before the General George, Three Diamonds Farm's Jakarta returns from a southern trip to head the Barbara Fritchie.

Rejuvenated since moved from turf and synthetic surfaces to dirt by current trainer Mike Trombetta, she tallied a front-running three-length triumph at odds of 18-1 in the Mrs. Claus Stales Dec. 28 at Parx Racing.

Following that race, she raced in the seven-furlong Inside Information Stakes (G2) at Gulfstream Park, finishing third after contesting the pace.

"She's a nice mare," said Three Diamonds Farm's Kirk Wycoff, who noted the 7-year-old daughter of Bustin Stones   will be bred this year to Essential Quality  .

Fellow stakes winners Belle of the North , Glass Ceiling , Kaylasaurus , and Prodigy Doll  are also entered in the Fritchie. 

Stronach Stables homebred Belle of the North won the Nov. 27 Safely Kept over the course and distance for trainer Jose Corrales, who stretched her out to 1 1/8 miles in her most recent start, the Dec. 26 Carousel, where she ran fourth.

"She runs her best probably at a straight mile. I tried her in the mile and an eighth and it did not work for her. Looking back I don't think she was ready for that," Corrales said. 

Co-owned by New York-based trainer Charlton Baker and Michael Foster, Glass Ceiling takes a two-race win streak into the Fritchie.

Bold Confection , Fille d'Esprit , and Regal Retort  complete the field.

Entries: Barbara Fritchie S. (G3)

Laurel Park, Saturday, February 19, 2022, Race 8

• Grade III
• 7f
• Dirt
• $250,000
• 4 yo's & up Fillies and Mares
• 4:14 PM (local)

PP	Horse	Jockey	Wgt	Trainer	M/L
1	1Fille d'Esprit (MD)	Xavier Perez	122	John J. Robb	6/1
2	2Glass Ceiling (KY)	Dylan Davis	122	Charlton Baker	7/5
3	3Kaylasaurus (PA)	Julio A. Hernandez	122	Timothy C. Kreiser	6/1
4	4Regal Retort (KY)	Jorge Ruiz	122	Steven M. Asmussen	10/1
5	5Prodigy Doll (KY)	Jevian Toledo	122	Phil Schoenthal	20/1
6	6Bold Confection (KY)	Frankie Pennington	122	John C. Servis	15/1
7	7Jakarta (PA)	Victor R. Carrasco	122	Michael J. Trombetta	3/1
8	8Belle of the North (KY)	Horacio Karamanos	122	Jose Corrales	8/1