“This is going to be a big jump for him. I usually don't like to do this sort of thing, but he's got such a good psyche about him. He does things with such ease. Mentally, it's like he's done it 100 times.”
“So far so good -- he's done everything we've asked of him. We've had a couple of setbacks. We wanted to run in the Wood. That was our perfect plan, but it wasn't to be. We considered the Blue Grass [April 15], but he needed another week and another breeze. So we decided it was best to wait for this race. We have to win here to make it to the Derby.”
“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.”
“I thought he wasn't going to run and it was going to be a disaster, but Cornelio said he had plenty of horse and he was just cruising. He knew more about him than I did. It's hard to tell through binoculars. He manages to handle things smoothly and he's an absolute pleasure to train.”
