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DERBY THEY SAID IT MAY 7, 2011 "I think it takes a certain kind of horse to do that, and I just felt confident that this horse could be a very, very special horse. I think when you have a horse of that caliber, they can handle the switchover." —trainer Graham Motion on how he felt ANIMAL KINGDOM (Leroidesanimaux [Brz]) would handle the switch from synthetic to dirt in the Kentucky Derby (G1) "Guess it was meant to be. A lot of things happen for a reason. People came to me and said, three years, back to back, and I guess it was meant to be for you no matter what. It had to happen the way it happened today." —jockey John Velazquez on winning his first Derby with a pick-up mount, after his favorites Quality Road (2009) , Eskendereya (2010) and Uncle Mo (Indian Charlie) were all sidelined "Well, you definitely feel bad. In this business, it's a roller coaster, basically, and I've been on the other end as well, that I've been hurt, and I've seen the horses I've been riding and winning. So I've seen it a lot. But I told Robby, don't worry, if we win this race, I'm going to take care of you." —Velazquez feels for Robby Albarado, who lost the mount after breaking his nose in a Derby Week spill "When he came today, I talked to him and just asked how he felt. I didn't think he was coming to ride today. The only thing he said to me, 'You're riding a good horse.'" —Velazquez on his brief conversation with Albarado "He did everything so good and he gave me so much confidence going into that first turn and he was going well the whole way around, you know, it's like you have to have the horse to get out of trouble and to get the spot that you want, and he did that. And when I asked him to run, he was there for me. And it's a feeling that is, you can't describe it, and obviously coming to the Derby and riding this horse like this, and he's doing everything that you are asking for, and it's amazing." —Velazquez was impressed with the feel Animal Kingdom gave him "Honestly, this is the race that we all want. Anywhere in the world you go, they are asking you, have you been in the Derby and the second question after that, is have you won it." —Velazquez on what it means to win the Kentucky Derby "I think I'm going to cross that bridge when we get there. No, seriously, I think this horse, the way it runs today, it would be a very hard decision from me to get off this horse to go to another one. That's just the way it is." —Velazquez responds to a question about what he'd do if champion Uncle Mo makes a comeback in the Preakness S. (G1) "I like to try to make history if I can, and we made a lot of history today. This is the first horse that came to win this race with only four previous races, since Exterminator in 1918, the first horse to win after a six-week layoff since Needles in 1956 so that means a lot to me." —Team Valor International's Barry Irwin on Animal Kingdom's historic victory "I had utter confidence in the horse. I really did not think he would lose. I knew how good Silver Charm was, and I knew that when you came to him, he just didn't quit. He had an extra little punch. And it was a tough race for me, because I like Alex Solis, he rode our horse, but Gary Stevens out-rode him that day. He just took our horse's path on Silver Charm. Our horse had to just momentarily move out a little bit and it was enough to cost us the race. The combination of that, and Silver Charm being a tough horse, and it was very hard to get over it. But I was hoping I would be back again and be able to win it, and it happened." —Irwin on Team Valor's near-miss in the 1997 Derby with Captain Bodgit "His dirt work was a real eye-opener, and that's what gave us the confidence to go ahead. If he had not done that, we would have skipped the Derby. We would not have run in the Derby just for the sake of being here, believe me." —Irwin on the pivotal role played by Animal Kingdom's April 30 workout at Churchill "The Belmont is the kind of race that this horse is bred to win -- let's face it." —Irwin on how Animal Kingdom should love the 1 1/2-mile third jewel of the Triple Crown "I have no idea, to tell you the truth. The thing about a horse like this is he's got a different kind of pedigree than Americans are used to. In order for him to really be worth a lot of money, he's got to go on and do something more than just winning the Derby. I mean the Derby's big. It's the biggest race there is. But breeders are very picky, skeptical people and he doesn't have a fashionable pedigree. So he's got to become a phenomenal racehorse in order to become worth a whole lot of money. If he won the Triple Crown, then there'd be no question." —Irwin on Animal Kingdom's current market value "We thought that was just a risk that we were not prepared to take, and you know, when Johnny came open, we decided to go with him. We just didn't dump Rob just to get Johnny. I wouldn't do anything like that. I like Robby. He's won a lot of good races for us. He's a hell of a pro, and this thing just came up bad, and believe me, we will find a way to make this up to Robby." —Irwin on the decision to switch to Velazquez when Albarado was off mounts Friday "I don't want to hear stories from 17 trainers every day. Unless you're there and you have one guy on your team that's on your side, you're not going to get the truth. And I reached the point where I was fed up with it. I also wanted to have my horses trained off-site from the racetrack, because racetrack life for a horse isn't any good. And we found Fair Hill, which is, I wouldn't say it's a paradise for horses, but it's the closest thing to a European training center that we have in America." —Irwin on last November's decision to transfer the Team Valor horses to Motion "It's hard to find one guy that can train every kind of horse, but I think Graham comes pretty darned close. We gave him a young two-year-old by the same sire as Animal Kingdom and he ran second his first time out at Keeneland, 4 1/2 furlongs. Any guy that can win a Derby and run a horse 4 1/2 furlongs is my kind of guy." —Irwin on Motion's horsemanship "Well, I've always liked international racing, even when I was a turf writer. It's more interesting. I'm the kind of guy that gets bored very easily. I need a lot of different things to do. Following international racing is a lot of fun. I also think that we have not done enough importing of horses and blood lines from other places where horses don't run on drugs and horses legs are not manipulated and horses, basically, are bigger and tougher, stronger and sounder." —Irwin on his international scale of operation "In Germany, you are not allowed to breed a mare that has ever raced on drugs, Lasix, Bute, nothing. So when you buy some stock from there, you know you're getting something good. So that's where I'm coming from. On this one, I actually brokered the deal to buy the stallion, Bobby Frankel was training him. I bought the mare. We bred him from one partnership and then we sold him at Keeneland. I bought him for another partnership. So we have had a hand in the whole thing." —Irwin goes way back with Leroidesanimaux (Brz) and Dalicia (Ger), the Derby winner's sire and dam "I would say, without wanting to sound too crazy, that I know we have made more money than any other partnership. But we might have made more money than most American stables in the horse business by selling horses around the world. I sold a horse named Gitano Hernando to the president of Chechnya. I sold part of a filly for a record price to one of the richest families in South Africa. We sold part of Pluck to a syndicate in Australia. So our company is thriving. We don't have any trouble selling our horses out. But I know that other people are struggling, because the economy just sucks, you know, and until it comes back, it's going to be tough for everybody." —Irwin on Team Valor's success despite the bleak economy
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