Derby They Said It

Lookin at Lucky was very unlucky to draw the rail post in the Derby (Debra Kral/Horsephotos.com)

“There are a bunch of variables: the 1 post, the mud, he’s never had this
much stuff in his face, a mile and a quarter. There’s all kinds of stuff. There
were too many things going on today. I got bumped two or three times. That’s
what I worried about going in. He wasn’t real willing to help me the first
sixteenth of mile and take some of it. After the first one, he wasn’t willing to
take too much.”

—jockey
Garrett Gomez on 6-1 favorite and sixth-place finisher LOOKIN AT LUCKY (Smart
Strike), who was roughed up early from his rail post

“I thought something went amiss with him because he just stuck them in the
ground (when he propped following a bumping incident along the rail.) When he
stuck them in the ground, I sat down on him and I didn’t know what was going on.
By then, I started to figure out what he was doing. By then I knew I was in
trouble. You can’t do that. You can’t give up that ground.”

—Gomez
on how Lookin at Lucky reacted to the mugging

“I felt like if I could have stayed where I was, in behind Willie (Martinez,
on Noble’s Promise), I would have been in OK shape. But even then, he picked up
the horses, but not real willingly. I was having trouble even picking them up
going into the far turn. I didn’t expect that. I figured that if I got shuffled
back where I was he would start to pick them up. He wasn’t helping me a whole
lot. Then all of a sudden I picked most of the field up and I started splitting
horses. He started putting in an OK run. I thought if I can eyeball something
he’ll come home. When we turned for home, at about the eighth-pole, he flattened
out.”

—Gomez
on the rest of Lookin at Lucky’s trip

The Twin Spires gleamed in the sun as the Derby field entered the sloppy backstretch (Harold Roth/Horsephotos.com)

“I couldn’t get lucky enough to beat Calvin (Borel), but my horse (Ice Box)
did get me second. He ran a great race. I have to be happy with the way he ran
today. He put in a great run.”

—trainer
Nick Zito on ICE BOX’s (Pulpit) rallying
second in Saturday’s Kentucky Derby (G1)

“I got stopped cold at the quarter-pole. If I got through, I would have won.
He stumbled real bad here at the sixteenth-pole. He must have stepped in a hole.
My horse, he ran his heart out. He just didn’t have the luck.”

—jockey
Kent Desormeaux his ride aboard Derby third-placer PADDY O’PRADO (El Prado
[Ire])

“I’m quite happy with him. He had me a little worried he was so far back, but
I saw him making up ground on the backstretch, even though it’s so hard to see
the race. I’m delighted with his effort. We’ll sit down with the owner tonight
and talk about the Preakness.”

—trainer
Alexis Barba speaking about MAKE MUSIC FOR ME’s (Bernstein) game fourth in the
Run for the Roses

A mud-caked Derby 136 field powers around the turn (Melissa Wirth/Horsephotos.com)

“I have never ridden a good horse like him. He’s so fast. I just let him do
whatever he wanted to. He took the lead easily but I don’t know what happened.
He ran a good race but he was facing the best horses in the country.”

—jockey Martin
Garcia, who was aboard early Derby pacesetter and 15th-place finisher CONVEYANCE
(Indian Charlie)

“Oh, man, we were in the right spot; just where I wanted to be. But when it
came time, he couldn’t do it. It just wasn’t his day.”

—jockey
Joe Talamo on his first Derby ride with SIDNEY’S CANDY (Candy Ride [Arg]), who
ran 17th in the 20-horse field