| Saturday, May 10, 2014 Peter Pan (G2) Quotes Christophe Clement, winning trainer of Tonalist (No. 4): "Joel [Rosario] makes all the calls on track. Obviously, he broke a tad slow so he sent him and showed more speed than expected, but he was just galloping along easily. You could see he was striding very well. What impressed me was the last eighth of a mile, when he opened up again. I thought he was fit [coming off the layoff]. I was very worried about the wet track. I don't breeze my horses on the wet track so that was a complete question mark. He answered that pretty nicely. This win is nice, it's great; Mr. [Robert] Evans is very happy. Let's see how the horse comes out of it, but of course we have to think about the Belmont Stakes [Grade 1, $1.5 million, June 7]. We're New York people and we're at Belmont." Joel Rosario, winning jockey aboard Tonalist (No. 4): "He was handling everything fine. He broke good, galloped out good. When they opened the gate [he was a little unprepared] and then he figured it out quick. From there, I just had to tap him a little bit and he just took me all the way. He was doing it easy; he was doing it on his own. I don't think we were going that fast. He can go a mile and a half; I think he can run all day. He's a big horse with a long stride, when you get him in the bridle, the more you ask, the more he'll give." Todd Pletcher, trainer of runner-up Commissioner (No. 3): "I thought he ran pretty well. Second best on the day, but he seemed to handle everything pretty well. The slop didn't seem to bother him, he put himself in a decent position, he kept running to the wire, galloped out well." Will you consider pointing him toward the Belmont Stakes? "I think so. We certainly feel he would handle the distance of a mile and a half. We'll see how he comes out of it, but talking to Elliot [Walden, WinStar president and CEO] initially after the race we'd be inclined to go to the Belmont if he's doing well." Javier Castellano, jockey aboard runner-up Commissioner (No. 3): "I had a beautiful trip. [The race] set up perfect; he was just second best today. The winner was best, but I like the way [Commissioner] ran. He handled the sloppy track well; he was splashing in it like a kid. I don't know about [a mile and a half] but he galloped out beautifully today; I really like the way he did it." |
