Saturday, August 16, 2014
Alabama (G1) Quotes
Todd Pletcher, winning trainer of Stopchargingmaria (No. 8): "In a perfect world, maybe, we wouldn't have been quite so wide around the first turn. We just wanted to make sure we got her into a comfortable rhythm. We were willing to give up a little bit of ground to do that. It really worked out pretty well."
"We had to give up some ground all the way around there, and when [Miss Besilu] cut the corner it was like, 'Uh oh,' but she had plenty of time to see her and compete with her."
"She's in the mix [for championship honors] now. We've got to keep winning. I'm not sure the Cotillion [September 20 at Parx Racing] is the race we'll choose. Maybe we'll go to the Beldame [September 27 at Belmont Park]. We'll just have to see how she comes out of this. It probably will be one of those."
John Velazquez, winning jockey aboard Stopchargingmaria (No. 8): "She was a little bit keen the first part of the race. Today I was actually taking her back, trying to get her to relax behind other horses. Finally, past the half-mile pole I gave her her head and let her hit her stride. All of a sudden the horse on the lead started getting out, and somebody else got through on the rail - I was pretty mad about it - but she showed up and put up a good fight. Every time I asked her for a little bit more, she was giving it to me."
Mike Repole, winning owner of Stopchargingmaria (No. 8): "She's just been training so good. Todd [Pletcher] has done an amazing job. She won with Javier [Castellano], she's won with Johnny [Velazquez]. She's just a special filly getting better and better and better."
"As a kid in Queens I could never afford to get up here. I never had a car that could go three hours. I've always watched the big races. For someone that's only been in the game for about 10 years and only really five years with some quality horses, you want to win the Jim Dandy. You want to win the Travers. You want to win the Coaching Club [American Oaks]. You want to win the Alabama. How lucky and blessed am I to say, 'Wow. Not only have I been in these races but I've won all four?' It might be a good day to retire."
"Something happened between being in New York, and going back to Florida. She had two races that were not typical, in March and April. She came back in May, trained up here and won the Black-Eyed Susan. The Coaching Club was even better, and this might be her best race ever."
"I just think that she likes it up here. It's cooler up here. Maybe she's like her owner and just loves Saratoga."
John Servis, trainer of runner-up Joint Return (No. 4): "[Jockey Kendrick Carmouche] eased her out turning for home and she just exploded. Very happy with her. I would have been happier with a win but very happy with second. I was really disappointed with [the Grade 2 Delaware Oaks]. I expected her to win and, hopefully, impressively. I [had] toyed with the idea of putting blinkers on her, but she'd been running so doggone good. You know, you're almost afraid to mess up, but after the Delaware race I said, 'That's it,' and I put blinkers on her. He went from having to ride her the whole way to sitting on her until he called on her, and she ran real well. I thought she'd love the mile and a quarter, and how many chances do you get at a Grade 1? She trained very aggressively with the blinkers, but you never really know until you run in them. When they came by here the first time, I knew. When she put herself in the race, I said, 'All right. Now we're good'."
Kendrick Carmouche, jockey aboard runner-up Joint Return (No. 4): "I pretty much got a perfect trip all around there. Once I angled out, man, it was just too late. Once she got clear, she really wanted to run. All in all, she ran a very good race."
