Saturday, July 7, 2012
VICTORY RIDE (G3) QUOTES
H. Allen Jerkens, winning trainer of Emma’s Encore (No. 2): “I saw her break [on the television monitor], and then I couldn’t find her because I didn’t have the energy to walk out here. I finally made it. I thought I was going to pull a Walter Brennan. Remember that movie [“
“[Agave Kiss] just went so fast. It’s not speed favoring today, is it? A couple of times this meet, for some reason, jockeys go head and head and I don’t know what it is. It’s so nice to be back and win one. [Owner Brenda Mercer] sent her to me, I never knew the lady before, and then after she won she sold a half interest to Mr. Berger. I guess he’s pretty happy now, too. I know I am.”
“She worked very well, and she’d been doing well, and [my assistant Fernando Abreu has] been working real hard with her. She’s a little bit off behind, and we have to keep trying to keep her sound and feeling good. She got shut off a lot of times at Gulfstream and still ran by them at the end. She showed class that day and then we made a mistake and ran her in that mile-and-an-eighth race [the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks]. It looked like this was a mistake, too, till now. It’s amazing, because I didn’t have anything else and the lady sent me this filly and she turns out to be good.
“I was being optimistic when I picked this race. We’ll probably think about the Prioress [Grade 1, Saratoga Race Course, August 4]. We’ve had a little luck in the Test Stakes [Grade 1,
Junior Alvarado, winning jockey aboard Emma’s Encore (No. 2): “I was so confident in the filly. [Chief] said ‘There’s going to be a lot of speed in the race.’ She broke really good, really sharp and got herself comfortable. By the five-sixteenths pole, she started to pick it up and I said to myself, ‘Wow, they’re going to have to be running today for her to get beat’ because she picked it up right away and gave me a nice, good kick.”
Rudy Rodriguez, trainer of beaten favorite and fifth-place finisher Agave Kiss (No. 1): “It wasn’t her day today.”
Ramon Dominguez, jockey aboard fifth-place finisher and beaten favorite Agave Kiss (No. 1): “We made the lead but got pressed a lot harder than I wanted, but turning for home she just seemed like she wasn’t herself today. She was pretty energetic, even galloping out, but I’m sure the fractions weren’t helpful at all.”
