Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf quotes

Breeders’ Cup World Championships

Quotes for the $1 Million Breeders’ Cup
Juvenile Turf (Grade II)

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Todd Pletcher (trainer, Pluck, 1st) – “He stumbled badly at the start and had to maneuver (around) a fallen rider. At that point, you’re just kind of hoping you can regroup and hit the board. He really exploded down the lane.

“We knew he had an explosive turn of foot. To me, he’s been a colt that has been very talented but he’s still learning. It was a matter of putting it all together and focusing on running straight. His last start was an improvement but you could still see that when he made the lead, he waited a little bit. He was doing a lot of things on natural talent but today, he really polished off the race at the end.”

Garrett Gomez (jockey, Pluck, 1st) – “He did everything really good. I mean, he overcame a lot. He stumbled to his nose leaving the gate. The horse (Rough Sailing) fell in front of him going to the first turn. He had to avoid that. I pretty much went to Plan C and just tried to let him gallop along and tried to come up with some kind of run, and hopefully, he could overcome as much as he could overcome. He actually turned in a brilliant performance.”

Kiaran McLaughlin (trainer, Soldat, 2nd) – “He ran great. He had a great trip but we were second best today. Congratulations to the winner.”

Alan Garcia (jockey, Soldat, 2nd) – “I had a good trip, the perfect trip actually. I was able to save ground the whole way. I just got beat by a luckier horse.”

John Velazquez (jockey, Willcox Inn, 3rd) – “He had a very good trip. He was just in a little tight between horses. When I asked him to run, he started to run little by little and got a good piece of it.”

Hilary Pridham assistant to trainer Mike Stidham, Willcox Inn, 3rd) – “(Willcox Inn) had a good trip but as we were just saying with Johnny (jockey Velazquez), we wished we had been on the outside because he was a little hesitant going through holes. He’s still a little green but he’s going to come back better from this.”

Michael Stidham (trainer, Rough Sailing, DNF) – “I talked to (jockey) Rosie (Napravnik). She is ok. She said his hind leg slipped. He seemed to get up ok and galloped off. He’ll be taken back to the barn to make sure everything is ok.”

Anna Napravnik (jockey, Rough Sailing, DNF) – “When we went into the turn, I wasn’t bumped or anything like that. The turf was a little bit soft and the turns were tight, so his footing just slipped out beneath him. I feel all right, and he got up and galloped away, so hopefully he’s OK. There was no bumping. He just slipped. It was just something that was unfortunate.”