JOCKEY QUOTES

MARTIN PEDROZA, BLUESKIESNRAINBOWS, WINNER: “Everybody seems to think that he has to have the lead, but he doesn’t necessarily. He’s not really quick from the gate, so you have to send him to get position. Once you get him going though, he’s OK. The reason we send him is because of that, he’s not aggressive right away, so we send him. It worked out well and I got the lead all to myself today.

“He galloped out strong, I had to fight to pull him up.”

TYLER BAZE, MAJESTIC HARBOR, SECOND: “I would have loved to have won – all the opportunities that have been given to me have been great. What a nice classy horse – in my opinion he was the best horse in the race. I got a little excited with him and thought I was going to win, and dropped my stick. He’s the kind of horse that acts like you need to ride him a little, and he likes the stick – he runs from it. I did the best I could with the trip I had. I’m real excited and hope I get to ride him back and everybody’s happy.”

TRAINER QUOTES

JERRY HOLLENDORFER, BLUESKIESNRAINBOWS, 2-1 FAVORITE, WINNER, AND ROUSING SERMON, FIFTH: “The horse is doing real good right now. The fractions were a little bit slower than I anticipated, but they’ve been running about like that. Martin went a little wide on the first turn but I think he didn’t want Ellis’ horse (Majestic City) to outrun him to the first turn. I don’t know what happened (with Rousing Sermon) there, but we’ll check him out and see.”

Asked about the Santa Anita Handicap March 8 as a long-range goal for Blueskiesnrainbows: “I think it’s very possible that we should be thinking about that.”

SEAN McCARTHY, MAJESTIC HARBOR, SECOND: “I was very, very pleased with his run. He hadn’t been out since May, so that thought in the back of your mind is, ‘Are we really tight enough yet?’ But by the same token, his last work was just super, and we felt really confident. I thought that if he could run off that work, then he should put in a good effort today. And he did, so I was really pleased.

“The trip was perfect. Tyler and I talked, and this horse needs to be in the race. I knew the two horse (Blueskiesnrainbows) would be up. I didn’t know (Spud Spivens) would be up, too, but we knew we’d have a little bit of speed in front of us, which was perfect to tow us around the turn. As important, I wanted to be outside, and Tyler got him outside. He’s a horse that prefers that position. So we have no excuse. He ran a hell of a race, and the best horse won today. But we got a hell of a race out of our horse.”

NOTES: The winning owners are Kelly Mitchell (Bad Boy Racing) of Plano, Texas, and Stanley Whisenant (Whizway Farms), of Heath, Texas.