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PREAKNESS THEY SAID IT MAY 19, 2007
"He stumbled pretty bad leaving the gates. My whole focus today was getting him away from the gates in order. I kept focusing on that, making sure he is wound up well enough and he stumbled. Obviously I had to go to plan B. I had to use him a little more than I needed to under the wire the first time, keeping him in contention. But I was always content where I was." —jockey Robby Albarado on Curlin's stumbling start at the break of the Preakness "He just said, you got me, and he congratulated me like a true professional he is." —Albarado on Calvin Borel congratulating him after winning his first Triple Crown race
"I have been thinking all day and wondering if my great-grandfather was looking down at this horse and pull him across the line, I think that's what must have happened because we named him after my great-grandfather. This is my mother's maiden name, Curlin, so I think he must have reached down and grabbed his nose at the last second." —Curlin's co-owner Shirley Cunningham, who named the colt after his great-grandfather, a former slave and Civil War veteran "I just think (Street Sense is) as good a horse as he ever was. We've gotta see what happens. I don't want to make any excuses why I got beat. I think my horse got to the lead and thought 'I won.' He's that kind of a horse. Curlin is a racehorse. If he wasn't a racehorse, he wouldn't have overcome the lead that we had on him. He proved he's good. How good is he? Hell, that's why we run them." —trainer Carl Nafzger after his Kentucky Derby (G1) winner STREET SENSE (Street Cry [Ire]) just missed by a head in the Preakness
"I don't know (about the Belmont). We'll discuss it. His mother was a stakes winner at a mile and a half. There is no reason to think he can't do it because he sure won't have to run this fast early next time. We'll discuss it. As we said when we started, we had plans of running three races, all three of them. We'll see. This race sure doesn't make me think that we can't do it. We'll see in the next day or so and we'll make our plans." —Jones on whether Hard Spun will go on to contest the Belmont "The next time, let's see, third (in the Derby) went to first (in the Preakness). Yeah, it's my turn the next time." —Jones contemplating where Hard Spun will finish in the Belmont "We felt good, but I knew the cavalry was coming. It was just dependent on how long we could keep outrunning them. It was a good horse race. Curlin was top-notch and was the favorite in the early Derby going and then it was Street Sense. And all three of them keep showing up to compete and go at each other. We're good. Hopefully, next time we'll get our turn." —Jones on the Derby and Preakness top-three finishers "When I made my move, I didn't want to wait and let them get on top of me. It could have really worked out for us right there. They were really coming hard, and there was nothing I could have done about it. I thought Street Sense was going to win when he went by me. I really had the support of everyone around here. They were the three best and they ran 1-2-3." —jockey Mario Pino on finishing third aboard Hard Spun in the Preakness at his home track "He didn't have enough bottom, but he ran his (behind) off. The beautiful part about this race is that the three top horses were right there. This makes me feel absolutely great." —trainer Nick Zito on the effort given by C P WEST (Came Home) to finish fourth in the Preakness "(Curlin)'s a good horse. No question. I feel sorry for Street Sense. It was a tough thing. It would have been great to see him win, but that's why they play the game." —Zito on the Derby winner just missing in the Preakness "I haven't seen the replay yet, so I'm sorry I can't give you more information. Circular Quay was back early. He put in a middle move, kind of kept trying. I haven't talked to (jockey) John (Velazquez) yet." —trainer Todd Pletcher on 11th-hour entrant CIRCULAR QUAY's (Thunder Gulch) fifth in the Preakness "(Jockey) Garrett (Gomez) told me he took the dirt well going into the first turn, which we were sort of concerned about. Garrett said he's a nice horse, but he probably needs a little more experience. I thought he stayed on pretty well. Down the road, maybe he will handle this type of distance against this type of horses." —Pletcher on KING OF THE ROXY (Littleexpectations), who bypassed the Derby in favor of running in the Preakness and wound up sixth "No excuses. The race set up the way it should have on paper. He didn't fire, that's all I can say." —Velazquez on his ride aboard Circular Quay "This sport is about taking on challenges, big challenges. Today demonstrated that." —trainer Robbie Bailes after longshot MINT SLEWLEP (Slew City Slew) finished seventh in the Preakness "I guess we should have gone three-quarters (of a mile). No, really, he was just high strung today. Cutting out those kinds of fractions, realistically you can't go a mile and three-sixteenths. You just can't. We'll fight another day." —conditioner Mark Shuman on eighth-place runner XCHANGER (Exchange Rate), who set a blistering pace for the first half "Our horse ran a pretty fair race, nothing to complain about. You just never know how a race will be run or how it will be won. That's why we continue to play and enjoy this game. This was an exciting race to watch. While I could have enjoyed it more, congrats to the winner." —trainer D. Wayne Lukas on FLYING FIRST CLASS (Perfect Mandate) finishing ninth and last in the Preakness
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