General Assembly (horse)

General Assembly
SireSecretariat
GrandsireBold Ruler
DamExclusive Dancer
DamsireNative Dancer
SexStallion
Foaled1976
CountryUnited States
ColorChestnut
BreederBertram and Diana Firestone
OwnerBertram R. Firestone
TrainerLeRoy Jolley
Record17: 7–6–1
Earnings$463,245
Major wins
Hopeful Stakes (1978)
Saratoga Special Stakes (1978)
Gotham Stakes (1979)
Vosburgh Stakes (1979)
Travers Stakes (1979)
American Classic Race placing:
Kentucky Derby 2nd (1979)

General Assembly (1976–2005) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. He was bred and raced by the prominent husband-and-wife team of Bertram and Diana Firestone, of Upperville, Virginia. General Assembly was out of the mare Exclusive Dancer, daughter of Native Dancer. His sire was the 1973 U.S. Triple Crown champion Secretariat.[1]

General Assembly was trained by future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee LeRoy Jolley. At age two, the colt won the Hopeful Stakes and the Saratoga Special Stakes; he ran second to Spectacular Bid in both the Champagne Stakes and the Laurel Futurity.

Racing at age three in 1979, in the U.S. Triple Crown series General Assembly ran second in the Kentucky Derby and fifth in the Preakness Stakes to winner Spectacular Bid.[2] In the Belmont Stakes, he finished seventh behind upset winner Coastal. General Assembly won the Vosburgh Stakes and ran second again to Spectacular Bid in the Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap. He then earned the most important victory of his career with a 15-length win in the Travers Stakes, in which he set a Saratoga track record for the mile and a quarter which stood until 2016.[3][4]

  1. ^ "FREE 5-Cross Pedigree". Retrieved 2017-05-22.
  2. ^ "1979 - Spectacular Bid". Kentuckyderby.com. 1979-05-05. Retrieved 2016-05-29.
  3. ^ "General Assembly Shows His Heels". The Washington Post. 1979-08-19. Retrieved 2020-12-14.
  4. ^ "General Assembly - Two minutes to glory". The Saratogian. 2019-08-13. Retrieved 2020-12-14.