Trainer Tom McCarthy's Kentucky Derby dream

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Owner/trainer Thomas McCarthy and his colt General Quarters

Photo by Tom Cooley Photography

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General Quarters will be trainer Tom McCarthy's first horse in the Kentucky Derby. Not bad for a 75-year-old senior citizen, McCarthy is not so much interested in how old he is, but how good General Quarters is.

The second generation Irish-American almost missed out on his dream horse, passing on him at the 2007 Keeneland September Yearling Sale when he was valued at $20,000. When the horse became available in May 2008 for the same price, McCarthy snapped up the son of Sky Mesa, and the rest is history.

The horse has run 11 races, won three and earned $595,645. General Quarters’ big win came at the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on April 11, which catapulted the horse and McCarthy into the Derby and the limelight that accompanies it.

McCarthy, an army veteran, worked as a science teacher all his life, owning and training horses on the side. General Quarters will be ridden by French jockey Julien Leparoux on Saturday. The horse had a final run out last Thursday, going five furlongs in 1:01 4/5 on a fast track.

IrishCentral caught up with McCarthy on Derby week to ask him about his journey, and the following is an edited version of that conversation.

Can you tell me about your Irish Roots and your jockey grandfather?

My grandmother was from Waterford and my grandfather was from Cork. Her name was Connolly and my father's father came to this country when he was 18 in the 1870s. My great grandfather raced thoroughbreds and my grandfather rode over the jumps and on the flat.

My father told stories and, you know the Irish, but here is the story about my grandfather: He came to that States with some horses that were sold to people in New York. He came over in the boat, and I guess the horses were quarantined and he had to wait.

Somebody told him that he could not stay on the boat without getting some papers. He was only 18 years old and he didn’t know what they meant, so they took him over to I think Ellis Island and he went through Ellis Island.

By the time he got back, the boat was gone and he had the equivalent of a quarter in his pocket. He asked someone where the horses went, and he ended up walking to the racetrack at old Jamaica in Long island. He snuck in, met some Irish grooms and they hid him in the hay mount.

As my father says after a couple of days, I guess the regular exercise boys got paid on a Saturday, got drunk and didn’t come in on the Sunday morning and the trainer was upset. One of the Irish grooms said “we have a jockey upstairs,” so the trainer says “go get him we’ll see how good he is.” My grandfather went down, exercised the horses and the trainer said “you’re hired,” and that is how he got his start in the United States – galloping horses on the racetrack.

He would be proud of his grandson running a horse in the Derby. When you get a chance to reflect, how does that make you feel?

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