Breeders' Cup Classic TSI - 11/6/10

"Well, I thought the battle for Horse of the Year was fought about a half

hour ago, and Blame won it. I mean, she's a great horse, Zenyatta is. But she

had her shot to get by, and she didn't do it. So I don't think you can vote for

her. I don't know who else you could vote for."

—Claiborne Farm

representative Seth

Hancock on the question of whether BLAME (Arch) should be Horse of the Year

following his defeat of ZENYATTA (Street Cry [Ire]) in the Breeders' Cup Classic

(G1)

"It's just something special, you know. The farm's been what it's been for

100 years. It hasn't changed. A lot of great clients that have horses there and

a lot of great men and women that work there. No, I really can't put it into

words. It's something that, you know, I've been running the farm for 38 years

and been around some great horses, but we've never owned a Horse of the Year,

and that's what I think we own now."

—Hancock

on what Blame's Classic win and retirement to Claiborne means to the historic

farm

"Well, I'm just proud to win the race. I take no pride in beating Zenyatta.

She is what she is. She's awesome. She's been great for racing. Her human

connections are wonderful people, and I feel bad for them. But we owe it to

ourselves and to the racing public to send our horse out there and try to give

him the best chance we can. I'm sorry that we had to beat her because she is

something special. We had to give it all we had."

—Hancock,

who represents Blame's co-breeder/owner Claiborne Farm

"I was trying to save just enough so if she (Zenyatta) did get to me that I

had something and some kind of response. He's the kind of horse, he's not going

to give you 110 percent until you ask for it. You know, he's a little laid back.

He will wait on one. And I thought I'd give him that little bit of opportunity,

not to wait on her, but just to have a little left in the tank when she came to

him or got close to him that he'd go ahead and give me that little extra that I

felt like I'm going to need the last 100 yards. And he did so."

—Gomez

describing Blame's running style

"You know, (Zenyatta's) so big, your usual measure of a horse doesn't count

with her. She's humongous. You know, (Mike Smith) asked me if I won, and I said,

I think so, but I'm not completely positive until I see the No. 5 go up."

—Gomez

on when he knew he had won the Classic

"It wasn't very good at all in the beginning. Got away just a little slow and

got squeezed out of there. I was just having a rough time of it going underneath

the white wire the first time. She just wasn't leveling out like I wanted to,

the combination of the dirt, of course, hitting in her face was a lot of it. She

just wasn't used to that part. Just left her with too much to do. I truly

believe I was on the best horse today. If I had to blame anybody, it would be

me."

—Smith describing

his ride aboard Zenyatta

"My hat's off to Blame. He ran an incredible race. He didn't fold, and I

needed him to fold just a little bit but he didn't. He hung in tough."

—Smith

giving credit to Blame

"It hurts more than you -- than I can explain, just because it was my fault.

She should have won, and it hurts."

—Smith expressing

his emotions over Zenyatta's first loss

"(Jockey) Rajiv Maragh (on Musket Man) came right over on me early and we had

to check; you heard (track announcer) Trevor Denman say that. The horse had

plenty of run. Obviously, he's (jockey Julien Leparoux) upset about it because

that cost him a lot. He was in a nice position, he was settling and he had to

lose all that ground. Julien is right about that because in a big race like that

you can't give Zenyatta and Blame whatever. But he ran his guts out. All in all,

I'm very happy. No question. Very happy."

—trainer Nick Zito

describing Classic third FLY DOWN's (Mineshaft) tough trip

"We were too far back. They didn't go fast enough. He broke well, but I guess

(jockey) Martin (Garcia) thought they were going to be flying. I don't know.

He's never that far back. They weren't going that fast. I thought he was going

to win turning for home, but we were at a disadvantage today coming from

California and not working over the track. I saw that in my other horses. He got

tired in the end. We were just too far back, both of us (Lookin at Lucky and

Zenyatta)."

—trainer

Bob Baffert on the trip LOOKIN AT LUCKY

(Smart Strike) got in the Classic; the Preakness (G1) winner finished fourth