General Election leads Spiral Stakes probables

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Florence, KY (Sports Network) - General Election, winner of the John Battaglia Memorial, is one of 16 3-year-olds who are listed as probable for Turfway Park's $550,000 Spiral Stakes on Saturday, March 23.

The field of the 1 1/8-mile Spiral will be limited to 12 with the starters determined by earnings in graded stakes, then earnings in stakes and finally by career earnings.

Trained by Kellyn Gorder, General Election registered a half-length victory over Giant Finish to win the Battaglia Memorial as a 13-1 longshot. The colt was ridden by Albin Jimenez and is owned by WinStar Farm.

"Albin rode the horse really well," said Gorder. "He's an up-and-coming rider. I was telling someone the other day, this is a kid you're going to hear about in the future."

A son of Harlan's Holiday, General Election won his maiden race on Nov. 24 at Churchill Downs and followed with a second on Dec. 26 at Fair Grounds. On Feb. 1 the colt finished a distant sixth in an optional claimer at Fair Grounds.

"He didn't like the surface at Fair Grounds, but he's already won on dirt, and he's already won at Churchill. He broke his maiden at Churchill, and he trained there last summer. And then he won the Battaglia on the Polytrack," said Gorder. "He came out of the Battaglia in really good shape. We gave him an easy breeze Saturday at Keeneland (four furlongs in :51.80), and we're looking forward to the race on Saturday."

Here are the Spiral hopefuls and their trainers in order of preference: Uncaptured (Mark Casse); Balance the Books (Chad Brown); Mac the Man (Jeff Greenhill); General Election (Gorder); Capo Bastone (Todd Pletcher); Fear the Kitten (Mike Maker); Channel Isle (D. Wayne Lukas); My Name is Michael (Bill Mott); Black Onyx (Kelly Breen); Giant Finish (Tony Dutrow); Taken by the Storm (Ken McPeek) and For Greater Glory (Steve Hobby). Needing defections are Cerro (Graham Motion); Red Wings (Lukas); Divine Ambition (Darrin Miller); and Crop Report (Motion).