Arlington Million (GI) Quotes
Arlington Million XXVII quotes
Ramon Dominguez (rode the winner, Gio Ponti): “He's a great horse. He just does everything so easy. I was a little concerned with the way the turf was playing all day. He stumbled a little bit out of the gate and I thought it would compromise my chances but right he away he came back up and was on the bridle, taking me every step of the way. Christophe (Clement, the trainer) was confident and told me to just do whatever I wanted. IF we could lay a little closer, that would be great because I didn’t want to have to make up any more ground. He’s a pleasure to ride. Once we got to the top of the lane and he had a target in front of him, I encouraged him and he responded.”
Christophe Clement (trainer of the winner, Gio Ponti): “At the end of the day, we were very patient with him when he was a 3-year-old and he keeps maturing and is a better 4-year-old. As far as Presious Passion, I told Ramon not to worry about him. If you look at him, his best races were at Gulfstream and Monmouth, two speed-favoring courses. Today with the rain, it was not that speed favoring going in. There are many good races around and he could go in any one of them. Let’s just enjoy today.”
E.T. Baird (rode Just As Well, 2nd): “I really didn’t expect Einstein to stop as fast as he did. That kind of caught me off guard. The hole was disappearing so then I had to come out and move around Einstein. He still ran a super race. He ran a super race last time (in the Arlington Handicap). Today Jonathan (Sheppard) wanted to keep him a little bit closer only because of the yielding turf and we didn’t think he’d be able to make up that much ground. Because we tried to keep him in the main flight of horses and it worked out pretty well. The course was fine. No complaints. It was very fair. It’s just a matter of who likes it and who doesn’t. It’s a yielding course but it’s not coming out from underneath them. It’s just who was going to take to it. I thought I could catch the winner if he collapsed or gave in a little. My horse was hanging in there pretty strong. He wasn’t giving up. Maybe at the sixteenth pole if the horse (Gio Ponti) was tiring, I thought it might be a photo finish but he never gave it up.”
Jonathan Sheppard (trainer of Just As Well, 2nd): “I was thrilled with the way our horse ran. I was concerned about the ground, you didn't see too many horses closing earlier. I told E.T. to ignore Presious Passion. He was tracking the winner (Gio Ponti) around the last turn but then Einstein weakened and dropped in front of him, which broke his stride slightly. I'm not saying he would have won, but he would have made it closer.”
Adam Kirby (rode Stotsfold, 3rd): “Everything went well. The horse ran really well and traveled around well. I thought when they straighten up (in the stretch) I thought he was going to win. He every right to be here and thought he was overpriced. I am very pleased he ran well.”
Christophe Lemaire (rode Cima de Triomphe, 4th): “The early part was OK. It was fine. He got a little fractious at the end of the backstretch. I had trouble to make him calm. Coming into the stretch he found something for the finish but a little bit late.
Julien Leparoux (rode Einstein, 5th): “I don’t know. We ran a good race but he didn’t kick in at the three-eighths pole like he usually does. I don’t know what happened. He’s run on this kind of turf before and won. Maybe it wasn’t his day. He had a good trip - he wasn’t here for me today. No excuses. He has never run this bad for me before, I have no excuse why he ran like this today.”
Helen Pitts-Blasi (trainer Einstein, 5th): “It's hard to explain. We will see how he comes back and take it from there. Obviously, we are disappointed.”
Kent Desormeaux (6th on Mr. Sidney in the Million after winning the Secretariat and the Beverly D.: “(Mr. Sidney) ran well enough. I think the distance may have been a little bit too far for him. But it was a good day at the office. Two out of three ain't bad.”
Tiago Pereira (7th on Gloria de Campeao and a man who is not conversant in English): “The rain (Last night). No good for my horse (making a swimming motion with his hands). He didn't like it.”
Elvis Trujillo (rode Presious Passion, 8th): “The horse didn’t like the soft track today. He tried. Around the three-eighths I asked him a little bit but he stayed the same stride and then stopped.”