Saturday, September 29, 2012
FLOWER BOWL INVITATIONAL (G1) QUOTES
Roger Varian, winning trainer of Nahrain (No. 8): “She showed us in her last start when she was third at the Curragh that she was coming back to herself. Her first two runs in the summer, the level of form she showed was incomparable to the high level of form she showed last year, so when we went to
On a start in the Breeders’ Cup: “We’re in [the Breeders’ Cup] now, aren’t we? We were second last year. From when she was second last year we were keen to have another toot at it this year. She’s shown up today, hasn’t she?”
Hall of Famer John Velazquez, winning jockey aboard Nahrain (No. 8): “We had a great trip. We got a really nice position in the first part of the race and then we got hung out a little bit wide on the first turn, but I didn’t want to take too much hold of her. We were going pretty slow and I didn’t want to take away what she was doing easy. We got to the three-eighths pole and she was going easy, then I had to ride her really hard. The other horse [Dream Peace] came to her outside, then she started to run.
On the Stewards’ inquiry involving the bumping on the turn for home: “I was already there. Here comes Julien [Leparoux aboard Dream Peace] and he probably thought I was going to wheel out. I never wheeled out, got into the clear, and he probably wanted to push me in, and it turned my horse sideways. He probably wanted to hold me in there.”
Chad Brown, trainer of runner-up Zagora (No. 7) and beaten favorite and third-place finisher Dream Peace (No. 1): “I thought both horses ran well. By no fault of Ramon [Dominguez] – it was such slow pace – [Zagora] inherited the lead, and had to go on. I don’t know if she really saw that horse [winner Nahrain] coming or not. I thought she ran very well. Dream Peace had a rough trip; she was a little far back on a slow pace, had to go widest of all. She got bumped turning for home and hung a bit down the lane, so it wasn’t an ideal trip for her.”
Julien Leparoux, rider aboard beaten favorite and third-place finisher Dream Peace (No. 1): “It was a good trip. She was relaxed, right behind Johnny [Velazquez aboard Nahrain]. I tried to make a run on him, we got a little bump coming out of the turn. She ran big, she tried hard. I think the bump cost her a little bit. She lost a little bit of action.”
