BALTIMORE – Winning Trainer Michael McCarthy (Journalism) – “Big day. I think when we got beat a couple of weeks ago in the Kentucky Derby, I was upset. But it wasn’t the end of the world. We re-rallied and things were good today.
When I saw that (mid-stretch bumping), I thought it was another solid effort and, unfortunately, he was going to come up just a little bit short. For sure he got the worst of it. Hats off to Umberto and Journalism for persevering. I think today you saw what it takes to be a champion. Today was his day. He had been telling us all along he was sort of ready for an effort like that.”
Belmont? “We’re going to go ahead and figure that out.”
Winning Jockey Umberto Rispoli (Journalism) – (NBC Broadcast) “I still can’t realize what this horse did today. I got in trouble at the quarter pole and, look, he make himself keep going. It’s all about him. It’s a privilege to ride a horse like him.”
“It’s just unbelievable. I won one of the legs of the Triple Crown and I’m crying like a kid.”
“When I cross the line, it’s all 20 years of my career that pass I front of me. I had to wait so long to ride a champion like that.”
Trainer Brendan Walsh (Gosger, 2nd) – “I’m disappointed not to win it, but I’m not disappointed in the horse. He ran a great race. He is an improving horse and he will improve off this today. Luis (Saez) got off him and said, ‘this is a helluva horse’. Maybe we will get our turn the next time. I thought we were home when he opened up. Luis said at the end, he just got a little bit lackadaisical, and he was out on his own maybe a little too long and the other horse came by and flew by him. Here is a horse to look forward too, absolutely.”
Jockey Luis Saez (Gosger, 2nd) – “Overall it was a good trip. We had no excuses. Hopefully, he will learn from this and the next race he will be even better.”
Trainer Mark Casse (Sandman, 3rd) – “I was upset the first quarter because they were walking, but they picked it up. I have to watch the replay, but he ran good. He made amends for the Derby, but a good horse won.”
Jockey John Velazquez (Sandman, 3rd) – “We got a good trip, you know, Tried to stay out of trouble as much as I could and then when we got to the quarter pole I thought I was home free but he got to looking around and stopped concentrating. When he was following the horses he was really good, but when I pulled him out to go around and he felt like he was by himself and he didn’t even care, but when a horse moved to the inside of us. He engaged a little bit again to the end.
Trainer Bob Baffert (Goal Oriented, 4th) – “He didn’t get to run his race. I wanted to see him on the lead, Maybe he would have stopped, I don’t know. He is lightly raced. He ran well, but he is still green. He was not used to being behind horses and he got intimidated. The best horse won. I have seen that horse do it all winter long and he is a remarkable horse. I saw him at Santa Anita and get in trouble and then come running. That is a really good horse.”
Jockey Flavien Prat (Goal Oriented, 4th) – “Very disappointing result. Expected a big effort today.”
Trainer Jamie Osborne (Heart of Honor, 5th) – “It wasn’t looking great half-way. He was sluggish out of the gate again. Got a fair amount of sand in his face, looked like it could have been a disaster halfway down the back. But God, he’s tough. He’s resolute. He stayed on great to the line, he passed all but four. Shame the Belmont is not a mile-and-a-half.” (The Belmont Stakes this year at Saratoga is 1 1/4 miles)
Jockey Saffie Osborne (Heart of Honor, 5th) – “He misbehaved very badly in the stalls, and as a result he jumped slow. You obviously can’t afford to be giving any distance out of the gates in these kinds of races. I was always trying to play catch-up. It was the difference between being able to get a nice position and not being able to. To be honest, I probably would have taken fifth going into the last bend. He was getting a lot of kickback in his face. Once I switched him into daylight, he started running really good up the straight. I think if we could iron out his issues in the gate, we’ve still got a very smart horse on our hands, and he showed that with the work he did later.”
Trainer Todd Pletcher (River Thames, 6th) – “Stumbled a little bit leaving there. Kind of got stuck a little bit wide on both turns. Seemed like he had a clear route, other than that, and just couldn’t quite finish the way we needed him to.”
Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. (River Thames, 6th) – “My trip was good. On the backside and when we were leaving the backside he turned sideways a bit and from there I straightened him out and after that he was trying until the end.”
Trainer Michael Gorham (Pay Billy, 7th) – “I think he had an OK trip. He kind of got outrun going into the first turn. I think he just got outrun. Maybe we need to step back and run in a little easier company.
Jockey Raul Mena (Pay Billy, 7th) – “He tried hard and never gave up. He just came up a little flat at the end.”
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas (American Promise, 8th) – “When he got bumped and roughed up a little bit, he kind of threw his head and quit on us. I didn’t like the way he responded. And Nik (Juarez) didn’t ride him hard the last eighth of a mile. He’s been getting into those squeezes like that, and again today. And when he did, he just chucked it. I just think that attitude-wise, we’ve got to change it a little bit.”
Jockey Nik Juarez (American Promise, 8th) – “He broke really well and (was) in a good position throughout the race. Into the second turn, he just didn’t have it today to continue on. He is a son of Justify and a very talented horse. I am excited to see how he matures.”
Trainer Steve Asmussen (Clever Again, 9th) – “It was rough on him.”
Jockey Jose Ortiz (Clever Again, 9th) – “I can’t complain. I had a pretty good trip. We had it – he was running a clean race. He was on top the first part of it. After that, he lost ground.”