Saturday, February 2, 2013
WITHERS (G3) QUOTES
Michael McCarthy, assistant to Todd Pletcher, winning trainer of Revolutionary (No. 2): "We were a little bit handicapped going into the race without having a work six days out, but the horse has been training well and gets a lot out of his gallops. The horse has a tendency to not get away cleanly and got himself a little farther back than we would have liked. Things went from bad to worse from there, but Javier [Castellano] didn't panic and had faith in the horse. We've known all along the horse had ability. When you are pointing for the
Javier Castellano, winning jockey aboard Revolutionary (No. 2): "He didn't break that sharp and I didn't panic. I think the key with him is that you have to be patient. I could have gone around horses at the three-eighths pole because I had so much horse, but I just wanted to teach him something, have him learn something. I knew he could get it done; in my mind it was just waiting for the best opportunity to make a move. That's exactly what I did, and he responded so well today. He's a classy horse. He kind of got intimidated a little bit between horses, he's a young horse, but I really like the way he did it. He split horses, finished very strong, and galloped out great. He's a horse with potential. Handicapping the race, I would have liked to be close to the pace – second, third, or fourth. It didn't work out that way, he didn't break that good, and I ended up almost last on the first turn. But the way the race developed, he learned a lot and I think he's going to go forward."
Elliott Walden, president, CEO and racing manager of WinStar Farm, winning owner of Revolutionary (No. 2): "Very impressed. Obviously things didn't go well out of the gate, but he hung in there and Javier did a nice job of being patient. Finally, when he got some room, he came running. When you're looking at a race like the