JOCKEY QUOTES

            UMBERTO RISPOLI, DESERT DAWN, WINNER: “I have been working this horse.  I knew this filly was better than that last year.  I knew we needed that last race and I felt the last work was better than shown.  I just wanted to keep her outside and I knew the pace would set up really well for her.  We started to move at the 3/8th pole and she fought every step of the way.  She gave me the Santa Anita Oaks and now it is on to Kentucky!”

            JOHN VELAZQUEZ, ADARE MANOR, SECOND PLACE: “We are obviously disappointed in the result. She just didn’t run her A-race. She broke slowly and was in a good position in the back stretch. But she just didn’t run the way she usually does.”

TRAINER QUOTES

PHILIP D’AMATO, DESERT DAWN, WINNER: “She’s an honest filly. I always thought once she’d get her scenario It’d work out for her, and I think the longer the better. Umberto’s been breezing her and her last drill was probably her best drill to date, so it all worked out.”

LES SNEAD QUOTES

LES SNEAD, LOS ANGELES RAMS, GENERAL MANAGER: “This is awesome! The photo finish there, right? The five (Adare Manor) was the favorite and the one (Desert Dawn) hangs in there down the stretch. I’m an amateur at this but I’m enjoying it. Great setting, it reminds me of the Rose Bowl, it’s a cool place to be.”

ON WHAT THE SUPER BOWL WIN MEANS TO THE FANS: “When you get to the top of the mountain and you accomplish that achievement, you do get a chance to meet a lot of lifetime fans, where the emotions of that win, for them it’s everything and they tell their story, that’s when you get that chance to go, okay this is bigger than just  a sport this is actually a fabric of the community.”

            NOTES: The winning owner/breeder is H & E Ranch Inc.