JOCKEY QUOTES

            JUAN HERNANDEZ, BRICKYARD RIDE, WINNER: “Craig told me a clean break with him was the key today.  I never bothered him, he felt comfortable the whole way.  It felt like he ran faster when I worked him the other day than he ran today.  I looked at three or four replays of his races and it looked like today, he relaxed a little better.

“When I worked him (five furlongs in a bullet 58 flat on June 4), he just took off.  When the pony let me go, he just took off and I didn’t know if I could hold him.  Craig told don’t worry, that he’d be okay today.”

TRAINER QUOTES

          CRAIG A. LEWIS, BRICKYARD RIDE, WINNER: “I don’t like to make excuses for my horses but, he was pretty much eliminated last time. He hit the gate and then he ducked in real bad, he just lost his best attribute, which is speed. I just felt like he trained well and we know he’s a brilliant horse when he’s right. I would hate to jinx myself and say that it was over (when he was on the early lead). Juan knew he had a lot of horse under him.

“We’re probably going to point for the Bing Crosby, possibly. We could stretch him out in a Cal-Bred stake. He’s a lovely moving horse, big horse with a wonderful stride, very athletic and has plenty of speed. If he can go around two turns. We don’t know if he could do it but we know this, he will be in front.”

OWNER QUOTES

         ALFRED PAIS, OWNER/BREEDER, BRICKYARD RIDE: “I thought with the little time off he had between races, it wouldn’t hurt him.  If he broke and if we got a realistic opening quarter mile…He goes fast easily, but today there was nobody pushing him.  It’s good to have Juan, he’s an experienced rider and he makes good decisions.”

            NOTES: The winning owner/breeder is Alfred Pais.