He always worked so well, so when we were sprinting him we were just dumbfounded that he wasn't performing any better. He was one that definitely needed to stretch out. |
He came out of the race fine. I'm going to throw the race out and go by his last two races at Tampa. He showed us he deserves a chance to be in the Derby. |
He was too much on the muscle to go a mile and a half. It's hard to win going a mile and a half when you're pulling that hard. |
He was training better coming into this race than he did in the Sam Davis and he ran a big race. It was a perfect trip. Our horse just had a picture-perfect trip. |
He's a very laid-back horse. He has absolutely no speed at all, but he knows how to pick it up later. He has a real good late kick. |
I believe two turns has really made a difference for this horse. |
I don't want to make the mistake of going too early. One time when I was working for Godolphin, we left Dubai on April 10, and when we got to New York there was a half-foot of snow on the ground and it was 35 degrees. The horses went from having slick coats to long hair in a week. |
It was a picture-perfect trip. We want to see this horse go all the way to the Derby. But we have another race to go first. |
The best thing to do is let the horse run his own race where he's going to be comfortable. We're not going to try and make any specific type of plans when we're out there. He's got some natural speed anyway, so I imagine he'll be up close. |
The Wood is a better spot. The timing is better for us. We have a little extra time to get him ready for the Derby. I do like the extra week. |
We needed to run the perfect race and we got it, along with a perfect ride. |
We still think we can make it to the Derby. |
We've always felt he would be a better horse around two turns, and he trained better going into the Tampa Bay Derby than he did the Sam Davis. |
When I got him back in October, they told me he had some minor problems but nothing significant. He had only been beaten one time, which says something about a horse running in that company. |