Norwich – The race horse owner and trainer who gained national recognition last year taking his horse, General Quarters, into the Kentucky Derby and last week won a $500,000 Derby undercard race, has been named the 2010 Norwich Native Son.

The award, presented for the 43rd year by Norwich Rotary and the Norwich Women's City Club, goes to a person who grew up in Norwich and brought notoriety to the city with accomplishments elsewhere.

Thomas Rutherford McCarthy, a 1952 Norwich Free Academy graduate, and Louisville, Ky. resident, said today that he was thrilled and "humbled" by the award from the city where he first fell in love with horses and horse racing. McCarthy said his father and grandfather raced horses in New England when he was a little boy. While he never raced himself, he grew up wanting to become a veterinarian and a horse trainer.

McCarthy, 76, became the sentimental favorite in the 2009 Kentucky Derby as "the one-horse man," owner and trainer of long-shot General Quarters. The horse finished ninth in the derby, and suffered an injury that became aggravated later during the Preakness and required a "long convalescence," McCarthy said.

But last weekend, General Quarters won the $500,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic prior to the Kentucky Derby at a rainy Churchill Downs.

McCarthy will be honored at an award luncheon June 23 at 12:15 p.m. at the Holiday Inn in Norwich. Tickets are $15. For reservations, call Rotary Selection Committee Chairman Larry Fowler, (860) 889-7740. by June 18.