RISKAVERSE QUOTES (FIRST DIVISION)

Thursday, September 2, 2010

 

 

RISKAVERSE QUOTES (FIRST DIVISION)

 

Todd Pletcher, winning trainer of Awesome Maria (No. 5): “We were looking for a place to start her back. We felt she was a filly who would appreciate some added ground, and obviously the Alabama is not somewhere you’d start back. The Victory Ride was a little too short, and she seemed to handle it well when we worked her on the grass. It was more about the timing and the distance than the surface. She’s already proven she’s a quality filly on the dirt. She’s still a lightly raced filly and doing things on natural ability.”

 

John Velazquez, winning jockey aboard Awesome Maria (No. 5): “This was an experience for her.  She’s worked twice on the grass and today she went out there like she’d never been on it, but she still handled very well. The plan was to give her a nice ride and do whatever she was comfortable with; stay where she was happy. [Shirley She Can] went to the lead and I stayed right off of her. Another horse came to me on the backstretch, and kind of pushed her along. I just waited in that spot until the quarter pole. She seemed like she needed a little company, so I didn’t want to take the lead too early. That was a really good effort.  That was a pretty decent field and for the first time being on the grass, she ran well.”