Quotes

He ran big, stayed behind the speed. He ran really, really well.”

Santo Sanjur, Jockey of MATROOH (third)

It’s a bummer running second again in this race but we’ll get it one year. The winner ran a good race; we were just second best.”

Brendan Walsh, Trainer of HONORABLE DUTY (runner-up)

We got a great trip and settled into a perfect position. The winner just simply drew away in the stretch.”

Corey Lanerie, Jockey of HONORABLE DUTY (runner-up)

I really have to thank the owners with this horse and my brother, Dennis, who helped us pick out this horse. In his last couple of races, he got really worked up in the paddock and didn’t run to his best effort. We know he likes to travel and I have to thank our groom and exercise rider for coming out here early with him and getting acclimated to the track. I’m not sure what we’ll do next with him. I see myself nudging up to some adult beverage tonight then thinking about where we go next. We were very optimistic with him all along and to see him put it together was great. We went through a bit of a funky phase with him and had some traffic troubles in his last couple of races.”

Doug O’Neill, Trainer of PAVEL (winner)

He got the perfect setup tonight. He’s been training really well into this race so I was confident he’d run well. When we turn for home I could feel like I had a lot of horse underneath me still. It was a great feeling and he won very easily under his own. I knew this horse could be better than his last couple of races and he had some bad luck. He overcame that tonight.”

Gutierrez, Jockey of PAVEL (winner)