PILGRIM (G3) QUOTES

Sunday, October 3, 2010

 

 

PILGRIM (G3) QUOTES

 

Shug McGaughey, winning trainer of Air Support (No. 4): “As I said, [the course in Saratoga] was like a conveyor belt and I thought he ran a good race, you know, he just couldn’t catch up it was so speed-conducive. The winner that day [Soldat] showed he was a nice horse, he was second today, so not taking anything away there, but I thought if I got him back to Belmont we’d catch a little bit fairer track and we obviously did. When we got towards the end I thought he was going on and pulling away the way I was hoping. If he comes out of it OK, why not [go to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf]? Unless somebody says no, we’ll see.”

 

Rajiv Maragh, winning jockey aboard Air Support (No. 4): “He felt really comfortable the whole time. With a little give in the ground today, he handled it perfectly. He was basically floating over the turf course. All the way I felt like I had a lot of horsepower and I was just waiting to unleash it and when I asked him he just kicked on.”

 

Kiaran McLaughlin, trainer of beaten favorite and runner-up Soldat (No. 8): “You never know with this kind of ground how they’re going to perform, and at least he performed well and handled it. We’ll probably continue on [to the Breeders’ cup Juvenile Turf].”

 

Alan Garcia, jockey aboard runner-up and beaten favorite Soldat (No. 8): “For the most part, he had a pretty good trip. He was traveling very strong over the racetrack.”