JOCKEY QUOTES

            MIKE SMITH, CORNICHE, WINNER: “There’s just so much upside to this horse. That is what’s really exciting about him. When he broke his maiden as impressive as he did, he just gave me that feeling that we weren’t even close to his full potential, and he gave me that feeling today. He’s a big colt and he carries a lot of flesh. As he starts to get even fitter and harder inside, he’s gonna be a force to reckon with.

“That’s what makes a good horse, a great horse, a champion, so to speak. Not only do they have the speed and the stamina, but they have the mind to go with it, and he’s an extremely intelligent horse. He just aims to please. If you notice, I was aggressive with him leaving there and as soon as I put my hands down, he just put his ears up and waited on me, at every pole or as soon as he felt horses behind him, on his hip he would go just fast enough, kind of playing cat and mouse a little bit. I’m just excited about the upside to him. I think there is a whole lot there.”

            JOE BRAVO, PAPPACAP, SECOND: “If you watch the first two or three jumps he stumbled and he was on his head, so he lost a little bit of position that way.

“He sat there outside, but I wish I could have been the horse next to the leader as it might have made the race a little bit different because my horse is a fighter. Baffert’s horses ran a great race.  The team and Mark E. Casse really had (Pappacap) ready to run today.”

TRAINER QUOTES

            BOB BAFFERT, CORNICHE, WINNER: “You never know until you send them two turns whether they’ll be able handle it or not, and it looked like he handled it pretty well. He’s got a great mind so I’m pretty happy about that. I loved how they both broke well and were forwardly placed, that’s where we like to be. Down the backside he was being chased by a really good horse. It was a really good race all around.

“We’re just going to let the process play itself out and not think about that now. The main thing is to keep them healthy and have them ready for the next dance. I just focus on these horses day in and day out. I have a lot of responsibilities. I’ve got to worry about horses and have employees that count on me. It’s a lot of pressure training horses, it’s not easy. It keeps my mind off of it, I focus on these horses and make sure they show up on the right day.

“Peter is great. He wants to play at that top level and he enjoys it. We have a great relationship and I talk to him a lot.

“He looked pretty good, and he wasn’t blowing too hard. We’re happy.”

OWNER QUOTES

            PETER FLUOR, CORNICHE, WINNER: “When we first bought him, we thought that he was the best looking colt we’ve bought in five years. By the way he moved and his stride. We had obviously high hopes as anybody would. Then came his first race which was probably not better than I had hoped, but it was better than I ever thought it would be. Mike (Smith) was excited, so we got very excited about this. It was a very good field and for your second race to go into a Grade I… Kudos to the horse and to Mike…We are very excited.”

NOTES: The winning owner is Peter Fluor’s Speedway Stables LLC.