Belmont Media Luncheon They Said It

BELMONT MEDIA LUNCHEON THEY

SAID IT

JUNE 5, 2012

"Turning for home, he loves that. He has the biggest heart and he makes me

that confident."

—jockey

Mario Gutierrez on riding Triple Crown hopeful I'll Have Another

"He came out of (the 2011 Grade 1 Hopeful in September at

Saratoga) with sore shins and we stopped on him and gave him time. So far, so

good. He's galloped over a lot of sloppy tracks and it doesn't seem to change

his stride, his energy or his will."

—Doug

O'Neill discussing why I'll Have Another had an abbreviated two-year-old

campaign and the possibility of a wet track on Saturday

"I would have wagered that my brother, Dennis, (owner) Paul Reddam and I

would have been on different pages. But right after that we said, 'Wow, that was

such a huge effort off five months. We have the Santa Anita Derby in nine weeks,

let's let him recover from that and just shoot for the Santa Anita Derby,' and

we all agreed."

—O'Neill on I'll

Have Another's victory in the Grade 2 Robert Lewis on February 4 -- the chestnut

colt was overlooked at 43-1 that afternoon -- and the decision to wait more than

two months for the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby

"None at all. I'd like to have 120,000 people booing me on the way out. Those

are great horses who have won the Triple Crown and I think (I'll Have Another's

connections) want to earn it. We owe it to the past Triple Crown winners to make

him earn it."

—trainer

Dale Romans on whether he has any qualms about trying to spoil a Triple Crown

bid with Dullahan

"I just got on him last Sunday (at Fair Hill training center)

and he was just very impressive. I couldn't have asked for a better work. I'm

pretty sure (trainer Michael Matz) just wants him to have a clean trip.

Obviously he hasn't had a very clean trip in his last (two) races. I'd like to

ask the racing gods to bring rain, make it wet!"

—jockey

John Velazquez on picking up the mount aboard Union Rags and the strategy for

the Belmont; Union Rags captured the Grade 2 Saratoga Special by 7 1/4 lengths

in the slop last year

"It's a weird race, and Sarava ($142.50 in 2002) proved it. Da

‘Tara ($79 in 2008) proved it. It's a great sport because you never know. If

you've got one that's eating well, doing well, and you've got a client who wants

to play the game, that's what it's all about. I'll probably never be a 25

percent trainer because I'm probably more of a home-run hitter than a single or

double (hitter)."

—trainer Ken

McPeek, who has a pair of longshot Belmont prospects in Atigun and Unstoppable

U; McPeek saddled Sarava to his 70-1 upset