After his work next week, he'll be pretty much set for the race. |
All they talked about was the winner and the third-place horse. He was ready to go a mile and an eighth. |
Don't kid yourself, all we think about is winning the Derby. If you ask 1,000 people on the street about horse racing, they're going to say Kentucky Derby and Bill Shoemaker. |
Every race is an education for a race horse. But this is a $750,000 Grade I race. |
Everything takes longer to do and you can't just run around and do quick little things like you used to. Everything has got to be planned out. That part of it gets old. |
Everything with the horse seems to be right where we want it to be. He's fresh and going into the race with what I hope is a lot more in reserve. He seems to be advancing -- and he needs to. |
For some reason, he just matured from then until now. We just started to see him ripple and grow up some more. I don't know what brought it about, but it was good timing. |
Getting the mile and a quarter in a ten-to-12-horse field, I'd love to be up against any of these horses and I'd be really comfortable. [This Derby ] is a 20-horse field with a lot of pressure up front. That pace could take away some of my tactical strategy. |
Going a mile and an eighth, I have tactical speed. With a short field, it shouldn't be a problem, nor should the weather. There's only a 20% chance of rain, so we should be fine. |
He bit me. He wanted another carrot. |
He can run, that's all there is to it. |
He can run, that's all there is to it. He's got tactical speed. It's just that no one has run faster yet. |
He can run, that's all there is to it. There hasn't been any faster horses in the races so far, and the next one there will be and it's a whole new game. |
He did it just about like the last few weeks. We'll come back next week with a three-quarters or so work Saturday or Sunday and we're all set. |
He does whatever it takes to get the job done. He's just a little professional. |