Everything the horse does, he does with high energy. He loves to work in the mornings. And most of all, the son of a gun likes to win. |
From everything I've read, it sounds like I'm going to be going against probably the best [mare] in the country in Happy Ticket. I'll get a good line on my filly after the race. It will be interesting, with her first route race [of the year], hooking into a horse like that. |
He was a great guy and a great competitor. He was a great guy to train for. |
He's been able to train on a regular basis, and it's been a long time since he's done that. |
He's much tougher [to gallop] this year. Before, he would go out there and just lope around but for the last two and a half, three weeks, every day has been a struggle to just keep him from wanting to roll. |
I don't think he's taken that Steelers' cap off since he got to Arkansas. There's not a bigger Steelers' fan in the country. |
I expect her to probably be off the early pace, probably third or fourth, and come running. |
I really liked him. He had a beautiful walk to him with nice conformation. It looks like a good family, so I thought wed take a crack with him. |
I see a lot of her in him, in his mannerisms. |
I think he is [a frontrunner] now because he's hasn't run for so long and he's so sharp. |
I think she's stronger. She's a little bit bigger. She's very confident, where last year you could tell she was a little timid. Now, she thinks she's the queen. |
I think we're at the point now where we need to start teaching this horse some different options. I hate to think he's one-dimensional. |
I think you might see him stalking this time, unless they go 24, 48. If they do that, then he'll be in front. |
I thought he ran great. That was his first race in a long time and I can't imagine him not moving forward off of that. As a matter of fact, I think there's a very good opportunity six months from now for us to see a whole lot different horse than what we've seen so far, as far as better. There's just so much room there, racing-wise and maturity-wise for him to get better. |
I thought I had the best 3-year-old in the country last year [but] we just couldn't get him right. I have no reason to think different now, until he shows me different. I think he's ready to be a racehorse. |