THEY SAID IT
MARCH 25, 2011
“I’m all for it. I like being the favorite for half a million dollars.”
—conditioner
Billy Morey on POSITIVE RESPONSE (Pomeroy) being made the 3-1 morning-line
favorite for Saturday’s Spiral S. (G3) at Turfway Park; the Cal Derby and John
Battaglia Memorial winner drew post 2 in the 12-horse field
“I love the one hole. The worst part about it is the amount of
time he has to stand in the gate, but he’ll have the least amount of ground to
cover to the first turn, and he won’t have anybody to his left to bother him.
He doesn’t have to be rushed. I’m tickled to death with the one hole.”
trainer
Gary Contessa on drawing the rail with
PREACHINTOTHEDEVIL (Pulpit) in the Spiral
“I’m not a Polytrack trainer but I know I have a good horse. (The
15-1 morning line on Preachintothedevil) makes me want to prove (oddsmaker
Mike Battaglia) wrong I think I have as good a horse as anyone in the
race. If he does well here we might go to the (April 16) Blue Grass (G1), or maybe train
up to (May 7) Kentucky Derby (G1). Or I could show up in the (April 9) Wood
(Memorial [G1]). It’s all up to the
horse. I think he’s ready to run a big, big race.”
—Contessa
“We wanted the eight on out, so this is where we want to be. He
doesn’t like to be down inside. He wants to be in the clear by himself. He’ll be in the five path down the backstretch and then we’ll see how it goes
from there.”
—David
Koenig of Sand Dollar Stable LLC, who owns TWINSPIRED (Harlan’s Holiday) in
partnership with Alpha Stables and Skychai Racing LLC; the gray colt will break
from post 11
“As soon as (Twinspired) stumbled out of the
gate, I turned to (trainer) Mike (Mitchell) and said, ‘It’s over.’ He came back
with a cut on his hock — it was superficial — but it just wasn’t a good break.
We weren’t going to win it but the trip cost us.”
—Koenig
on Twinspired’s fourth-place run in the John Battaglia last out
“My only concern is the Polytrack. He’s getting on a plane today, coming up from Palm Meadows, and will
be there (Turfway Park) tonight. We’ll get him out for a light jog (Friday) to get him
out of his stall and stretch his legs, let him lope around the track.”
—trainer
Tom Albertrani on Turf Paradise Derby hero KING CONGIE (Badge of Silver); the
dark bay, who will break from post 8 in the Spiral, captured the grassy
Hallandale Beach last out before being placed third via disqualification
“It’s better to be in the 12 hole going a mile and an
eighth than in the 11 hole going a mile and a sixteenth. You
have that extra run to the first turn. You can see what everybody else is
doing. Hopefully you’re not seven or eight wide going into the turn. Hopefully
you can use just a little speed so you’re only three or four wide, or you can
take back.”
—conditioner
Kellyn Gorder on stakes winner and Mountain Valley third GLINT (Sharp Humor)
drawing the far outside in the Spiral