JOCKEY QUOTES

VICTOR ESPINOZA, CALIFORNIA CHROME, WINNER: “I know he’s doing great but it was his first time at two turns. We wanted to find out if he could go that far and today, he showed he can go the distance. He did it easy. I had to tap him once though just so he kept going because he waits for other horses.

“I talked with Art Sherman before the race and he asked me what I wanted to do. I told him I wanted to put him in the race; you have to let good horses run. I didn’t want to do too much with him, I didn’t want to take a hold or anything, I wanted him to be happy. He (Sherman) told me to do whatever I wanted.”

RAFAEL BEJARANO, TAMARANDO, SECOND: “He’s better coming from behind. If I move too early, he won’t finish. Once no horses are in front of him, he kind of stops. I was in good position, right behind the speed, but the winner was much the best today; he won easy. My horse finished out great; a better horse beat us.”

TRAINER QUOTES

ART SHERMAN, CALIFORNIA CHROME, WINNER: “I thought he would run awesome today. He’d been training like a bomb. I brought him over here about a week before and schooled him and took him in the paddock. The horse, the light bulb went on. He was kind of green starting out. He had a couple of rough trips in his races, he kind of got banged around and had no place to go. Now, he’s learned how to rate himself and have speed and in California, that’s the type of horse you want, where you can place them close up.

(With the blinkers and Lasix). “That helped him quite a bit. When he was first out, he was green. You didn’t want to rush him into everything. I let him get his legs under him and grow up a bit and now he’s starting to mature. Coming into this race, I knew he’d be awesome. He’s been training lights-out.”

JERRY HOLLENDORFER, TAMARANDO 9-5 FAVORITE, SECOND: “I certainly didn’t expect him to be that far back.”

NOTES: The winning owners are Steven Coburn of Wellington, NV, and Perry Martin of Yuba City.