JOCKEY QUOTES

GEOVANNI FRANCO, LIEUTENANT DAN, WINNER: “He’s a pretty fast horse and he’s very versatile. He broke sharp like he always does and put me in a nice spot where if they were going too slow, I could have gone and if they were going too fast, I could have sat back.

“All in all, he was the one taking me through the trip. At the end of the race he kept on going. I heard some noises of people coming but he never slowed down or waited for anybody.

“It was a great feeling to ride the hill again, it is definitely different than any other race or surface. You have a lot of fun out there, especially when you have a horse like this one.”

TRAINER QUOTES

            STEVEN MIYADI, LIETENANT DAN, WINNER: “I don’t feel he’s a real miler against top horses, and I consider the 6 ½ furlongs a mile so, I was worried about that. Down in Del Mar you need a good post inside and it’s a different race.

“It’s fantastic to run down that hill and to win.”

OWNER QUOTES

            NICK ALEXANDER, LIEUTENANT DAN, WINNER: “It was so unexpected. I think he was the seventh or eighth foal out of the mare (Excusabull), and the first seven did nothing so, we had very low expectations for this horse and he just continues to succeed them. He just loves to win.

“I love that turf course. We have always excelled on it and Grazen babies just seem to love that distance and that downhill. It is so beautiful.

“He earned the amount to (supplement) it is $100,000, if he comes out of this race in one piece, that’s our next goal.”

NOTES: The winning owner is Nick Alexander.