Pasquale Vizzoni’s General Perfect, likely to be one of
longer prices in the race, is slated to arrive at Arlington
Park on Wednesday in
advance of his start in Saturday’s Arlington Million XXIX, one day before his
trainer Glenn Thompson.
The son of Perfect comes into the race off a fifth-place
finish in the Grade III Oceanport Stakes at Monmouth
Park on July 31, and
according to Thompson, the 8-year-old gelding will gallop up to the race.
“He doesn’t need a lot in the way of work,” said Thompson,
who will be saddling his first Arlington Million starter. “He just ran on
July 31 so he won’t need a breeze. He gallops strong in the morning.”
A sprinter for the majority of his career, Thompson has
stretched the horse out in his last two starts.
“I get on him myself in the mornings,” he explained.
“When I first got him (last year), he’d try to run off with me. One
morning, he took off and I decided to let him tire himself out. After
about a mile and a half, I clucked to him and he re-broke. So, I thought
to myself that he wanted to run long. I tried him long once on the dirt
in New York
in the fall and he didn’t like it, so I had to wait for the right time to try
again.”
He went back to sprinting and won the $82,000 John McSorley
Stakes over 5 ½ furlongs in June before his trainer decided to try him long
again.
“After he won the sprint stakes race, the owner gave me a
little leeway to try him long again,” Thompson said. “It was a big step
up to run in the (Grade I) United Nations but I was confident he’d run
well. He was fanned out way wide in the stretch or I think he could have
been closer, maybe only a couple of lengths off the winner had he not lost so
much ground on the turn. I was real proud of his effort. He’s a
pretty special horse.”