BREEDERS’ CUP
THEY SAID IT
OCTOBER 26, 2007
“I just gained so much confidence moving down the backside because
(Corinthian) stayed in the bridle even though he was getting pummeled with
sand. And when I loomed up to the leader, the sand stopped hitting him in the
face and was going underneath his chest and he got stronger and stronger. It
seemed like the longer I was able to sit the more he grabbed the bit.”
jockey
Kent Desormeaux on Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner CORINTHIAN (Pulpit)
“This red colt, he was a fireball down the lane. He was certainly trying
to dry his path; he was a rocket down the line.”
Desormeaux on
Corinthian
“I was having to work with him to get him off the bridle. He was a
little keen with me. Once I got him outside, he was nice and relaxed and
traveling well. About the half-mile pole, when I needed horse, he just kind of
stayed. I thought he was completely done. I just kept scrubbing away and he hung
on and ran third for us.”
jockey
Garrett Gomez on 3-2 favorite DISCREET CAT (Forestry) running third in the Dirt
Mile
“He’s had some setbacks, a throat surgery and stuff like that. We’re
trying to figure it out. We know (the talent) is still there. We don’t know
exactly what the problem is. He’s traveling well and he feels good underneath
me, but there’s something missing, and we’re going to try to find it.”
Gomez
“I don’t like to make excuses. There’s nothing we can tell right now.
Maybe it was the ground, or maybe his throat. We’re headed back to the barn
now.”
trainer
Saeed bin Suroor on Discreet Cat’s run
“It’s muddy out there. He never got in the race. He didn’t like that
slop at all. It wasn’t a matter of the trip; I had a good trip. He just didn’t
want to do it out there today.”
jockey
Joe Talamo on LEWIS MICHAEL’s (Rahy) fifth-place finish in the Dirt Mile
“He got bumped out wide going the first turn, and only had one horse
beat, and that’s not him. He just didn’t run a lick.”
Jim Ryerson,
trainer of PARK AVENUE BALL (Citidancer), who finished seventh
“She’s so amazingly gifted with speed. When we claimed her, we just assumed
she was a filly that had to be up near the front end, and she’s such a tall,
big, good-looking filly, it’s amazing. It took us about seven starts for us to
figure (her running style) out. But she’s so big that by rushing (her) off her
feet, it just takes a lot of run out of her and just letting her break and
settle, she’s so much more giving late in the race. I wish we would have figured
that out a while back. But at least we finally figured it out.”
winning trainer
Doug O’Neill on
Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner
MARYFIELD (Elusive Quality)
“Every exercise rider has commented on how sure-footed she is. We knew
if the going was a little slick, she would not lose her confidence. And as it
rained, even though it was a nuisance walking around, we knew it would be a
bonus for her.”
O’Neill on
the sloppy conditions that Maryfield had to contend with in the Filly & Mare Sprint
“It’s incredible. I think last year, being part of the Kentucky Derby
festivities was just a real eye-opener of how many great horsemen there are. And
just to sit down there, having dinner with Carl Nafzger and Steve Asmussen, and
you know, just to be doing something that I absolutely love with people that
have been doing this a lot longer than me, I just feel very fortunate. I’m
learning something new every day and been very blessed the last three years and
hopefully we can keep it going.”
O’Neill
“She always breaks slow so I was expecting it. I knew if I tried to take hold
of her, she would try to run off with me. I stayed on the rail, came to the
middle of the track on the turn, and (Garrett Gomez aboard Oprah Winney) kind of
cut in front of me a little bit. I had to check slightly there. I don’t know if
it cost me the race, but she finished real well.”
jockey
Eusebio Razo Jr. on MISS MACY SUE (Trippi), who ran third in the inaugural
Filly & Mare Sprint
“I think the one-hole hurt us just a little bit because those other fillies
were a lot quicker, and she got shuffled back some, and bumped around a little
bit. I don’t know whether it cost us a placing or not. I thought she ran very
well. I am very proud of her.”
—trainer
Kelly Von Hemel on Miss Macy Sue’s run
“We didn’t really catch our best track today. She’s a fast horse, but it was
very tiring out there. She always runs :44, but with a fast track she would have
kept going.”
—Eibar
Coa on Filly & Mare Sprint favorite DREAM RUSH (Wild Rush), who finished
fifth
“Forty-four flat, well, she can handle that. I just don’t think she loved the
track. Eibar said she just didn’t give him the same feel as on a fast track.
What are you going to do? It’s an outdoor game. She leaves next week for
Kentucky. She’s going to be offered at the Fasig-Tipton November sale. You can
buy her.”
—trainer
Richard Violette Jr. on Dream Rush, who will show up next in Fasig’s sale’s ring
“She didn’t really like the track at all. She lost her action.”
—jockey Julian
Leparoux on LA TRAVIATA (Johannesburg), who ran sixth after contesting the early
pace in the Filly & Mare Sprint
“These are very tough conditions for a two-year-old.”
—jockey
Johnny Murtagh, who rode ACHILL ISLAND (Ire)
(Sadler’s Wells) to a near-miss in the inaugural Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf, on
the yielding ground
“The grass is really soft. There were ducks on the course around the
half-mile pole, about four or five of them.”
—jockey Elvis
Trujillo describes the view aboard third-placer CANNONBALL (Catienus) in the
Juvenile Turf
“I feel like I rode a mile and a half race. It was a marathon out there, and
I had a miler. I put away the horse on the inside and had what, at the time, was
a comfortable trip, but at the quarter-pole, I had nothing left.”
—jockey
Kent Desormeaux on PRUSSIAN (Danzig), who tired after setting the pace in the
one-mile Juvenile Turf and wound up 10th
“The ground is very heavy now. It’s really changing. Obviously, it’s not to
his liking right now, not his cup of tea.”
—Bill Mott,
Prussian’s trainer, echoes the comments about the testing turf