| Friday, July 25, 2014 Curlin Quotes James Jerkens, winning trainer of V. E. Day (No. 7): "He settled into a nice ground-saving trip. I thought the first quarter was a little slow, but then they picked it up. It turned out to be a legitimate pace, and he looked comfortable back there. I thought if he was good enough, he'd have a chance to get something. He's bred top and bottom turf and ran very well on the turf last time. But he trained so well on the dirt, I wanted to give him a chance, and this was a nice spot to run him against straight 3-year-olds. I still don't know if he's better on turf or dirt, to be honest with you." "He was coming off a mile and an eighth. I wasn't sure what I was going to do, but he worked very nice over here the other day [on the main track]. We worked him around two turns and he couldn't have worked any better, as far as working nice and even all the way. So, we decided to give it a shot." "I knew he'd be back there. On paper, it looked like there would be a ton of speed in there. It looked like it was a little bit of a cavalry charge going into the turn there, and we were tucked in behind there, saving ourselves. I thought if he liked the dirt good enough and was classy enough like I thought he was, I thought he'd be tough." Jose Lezcano, winning jockey aboard V. E. Day (No. 7): "My horse did everything so easy to the quarter pole. He saw the horses and kept running. I didn't want to break that sharp; I wanted him to settle and come running like he did last time at Belmont. I saved ground the whole way, and when he asked me he gave me a kick." On winning his 2,000th race in North America: "I feel very lucky to be in this business and do good." Bill Mott, trainer of runner-up Charge Now (No. 5): "I thought it was a great effort. He was a little green when [V.E. Day] went by him and he came back again. We want to win the Travers [Grade 1, $1.25 million, August 23], anyway." Junior Alvarado, jockey aboard runner-up Charge Now (No. 5): "I thought I had a great trip. I broke good. I thought I had a nice position behind the speed. I was kind of waiting and waiting. Some horses in front were stopping and it started getting crowded, so I made my move. Everything was perfect. When I asked, he was there for me." Todd Pletcher, trainer of third-place finisher Protonico (No. 3): "I thought he ran very well. For his first time going a mile and an eighth and only his second start this year, I thought it was a good performance." Javier Castellano, jockey aboard third-place finisher Protonico (No. 3): "He had a beautiful trip, a perfect trip behind horses. I saved all the ground. He learned a lot today. He's a young horse and he's developing himself. I think in the future he's going to appreciate the trip because he was always on the lead and today we stretched him out a mile and an eighth and two turns. He went a couple steps that he hadn't before and I thought it was a great effort for him."
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