But he hasn't missed a lick in his training since getting down here in November, and it doesn't seem like he's lost a step in the morning. I don't know if he's still a Grade 1 horse or not, but if everything goes well Saturday we'll give him a shot at the Donn and see what happens. |
First, he's got to win on Saturday. I'm not going to think beyond that. I don't even know if he can beat Like Now. |
He didn't go quite as fast as he did last time. This is what we wanted. |
He galloped out strong; he came out of it well. He's doing really, really well. I hope he runs well. |
He has to be in tip-top condition. I'm not going to put him into a tough race. Probably good judgment and good sense would say not to run, but there is only one Kentucky Derby and he's done everything we've asked of him, so you think you have to give him a chance. |
He hurt his back last year, and we had to completely stop on him. He looks good and strong now, and he training better than ever. |
He kept going lame. He was going through growing pains, I guess. |
He scared the heck out of me. |
He was full of himself. If everything looks good on Wednesday (of Derby Week), I'll enter him and if everything looks good on Thursday, I'll ship. |
He's got a couple of races under his belt, he's training dynamite, he looks good, he feels good. We've got no excuses. I feel good about it. Right distance, right spot, right track. He's perfect. He's as right as I can get him right now. |
He's training well, we'll give it a shot. He likes it hard and fast, so it'll probably be wet and soft. |
I didn't want to bring him back going a mile and one-eighth in the Hal's Hope because there are some hotshots in there who might make him overextend himself, and I didn't want to knock him out. He's really not a six-furlong horse. I would really have preferred to start him at seven furlongs or a mile, but I wanted to get a competitive race under his belt, and whether he wins or loses, it shouldn't exhaust him. |
I don't know if we even belong with these horses, but you sure hope you do. |
I have some ideas why he didn't run very well, but I don't want to speculate. |
I thought he was finished. And he came on. |