| Sunday, September 28, 2014
Pilgrim (G3) Quotes
Kiaran McLaughlin, winning trainer of Imperia (No. 4): "We've only [run a maiden in a graded stakes] one other time that I can remember in the last 10 years, and it was Soldat [when he won the 2010 Grade 2 With Anticipation]. You have to get graded earnings to get into the Breeders' Cup. We really liked him and thought, 'Why run him back in a maiden race? We can always break our maiden. Let's run in a stakes.' He had bled a little in his first start, so we signed him up for Lasix. I feel bad Rajiv [Maragh] is in the hospital, but Javier [Castellano] was a great replacement."
"We saw him work a little better [on the turf]. He's pretty good on the dirt, also, but he wants the distance, so we ran him long on the turf at Saratoga. We're not saying we'll never go back to dirt, but we could."
Javier Castellano, winning jockey aboard Imperia (No. 4): "I got lucky today with the way everything unfolded. I didn't have a horse in the race, and Kiaran asked me to ride him this morning. I had a beautiful trip. He broke well, much better than last time. He put me in good position early, and I got to save all the ground. I had the best horse in the race, I just had to go around the horses and he took off; I like the way he did it at the top of the stretch. For a young horse, he has a very mature mind."
|
