Saturday, June 9, 2012
Contact: NYRA Press Office
(718) 659-2351
QUOTES FROM MARIO GUTIERREZ NEWS CONFERENCE
“[The realization] already sunk in. I found out yesterday early in the morning. It’s a little sad. The trainer and the owner made the decision for the horse. He’s the one who brought us here, so we try to take care of him. If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t be here.”
“Before I’ll Have Another, no one knew who I was. It has been an unbelievable journey.”
“I came here for the horse, I’ll Have Another, and Mr. Reddam and [Doug] O’Neill, so I asked what was the plan [after I’ll Have Another was retired]. ‘Are we going home? Are we leaving?’ And they were like, ‘No, we’re sticking around.’ And I was, like, ‘Awesome!’ This is my job. Like any other sport, something a little bad happens, but then you have to keep moving forward. This is my job, this is what I love to do.”
“My friends arrived a couple of days ago. Yeah, everybody’s here.”
“I have to keep riding the horses and give the best chances for them. It is my job. Like any other rider, we’re professional in what we do.”
“This is my first time here but if the [other jockeys] come out to watch [the Belmont], I will, too, and wish everybody the best luck, to the jockeys and hope everything goes well and to the other horses, and may the best horse win today.”
“This is horse racing. [Having horses scratch] always happens; it’s just that this is a big race and everybody has been paying so much attention. It’s like an everyday thing.”
“Like I said in the first interviews, I was taking one race at a time, well before
“I never thought about a Triple Crown. I take one race at a time. My head was focusing on the Belmont Stakes race. That’s all I was thinking, the Belmont. If I won the
“I was 100 percent confident in my horse. A lot of people didn’t believe in him since Santa Anita Derby, the Kentucky Derby, everything was going to be such a huge deal for him, and he proved them wrong, I know if he was 100 percent today, he would prove everybody wrong again.”
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