BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE FILLIES TURF QUOTES
Friday, November 3, 2017
Winning trainer Chad Brown (Rushing Fall and fourth-place Significant Form)
“Both fillies ran very well. The other filly ran terrific. She was too close to the early pace and made the first move and fortunately it took its toll on her the last sixteenth.
(On Rushing Fall) Javier (Castellano) rode a great race. The key was going out of that post and getting a spot in the first half of the field which he accomplished. From there, with a nice pace in front of us, he was comfortable where he was and he moved when he felt the time was right. She has a devastating move when you turn her loose.”
Winning jockey Javier Castellano (Rushing Fall)
“We had a little bit of a rough trip going into the first turn, but I was lucky to be able to save some ground in the first turn and then get to the outside. I had a perfect trip after that.
“She’s a very professional filly. I love the way she does things. She’s a very special filly. She’s 3-for-3 and has won on soft turf and firm turf.”
Second-place trainer Christophe Clement (Best Performance)
“She’s a wonderful filly. She tried very hard. We will live to fight another day when she will be the bride instead of the bridesmaid.”
Second-place jockey Jose Ortiz (Best Performance)
“She ran very well. Broke well. I was in a good position then was shuffled back a little on the second turn. But when I asked her to go she gave me a good turn of foot.”
Third-place trainer Aidan O’Brien (September)
“She missed the break but finished well. She had run a good race. I have two nice fillies for next year.”
Third-place jockey Seamus Heffernan (September)
“All the Europeans seemed to miss the break. I did and that is the advantage the Americans have over the Europeans.”
Ryan Moore, jockey of beaten favorite Happily
“She took too long to find a gear and by then it was too late and there was some horses in front of her.”
BREEDERS’ CUP JUVENILE FILLIES TURF TRANSCRIPT
Friday, November 3, 2017
Javier Castellano
Bob Edwards
THE MODERATOR: All right. The winner of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf is Rushing Fall, who remains undefeated, a perfect 3 for 3. And we’re happy now to be joined by winning jockey Javier Castellano, as well as Bob Edwards, who is e Five Racing, and these two it should be noted won this race last year with New Money Honey. Chad Brown trained, of course. Chad has Practical Joke in the next race, so he won’t be able to make it.
But thank you for being here, and congratulations to you. Javier, I’d like to start with you, if you could just tell us how the race unfolded for you?
JAVIER CASTELLANO: Well, a little bit tough in the first turn, we knew it was going to be 14 horses in the field. Short, tight corners. So very lucky that my filly, she broke well out of the gate. She charged a little bit, and she put me in a good spot in the race. After that I got a good position. Everybody rushed to be in the same spot. I’m thinking ended up a little bouncy a little bit for a couple of horses. I shot her up a little bit. I had to lose my position again.
But I didn’t panic. I took my time with her. Letting her develop and see how she go and perform the race. And I stepped up a little bit outside, I followed the front running horses, and turning for home it was amazing. Just asked her and she exploded. She got a powerful kick, and the way she did it I was very impressed.
THE MODERATOR: Very good. Bob, can we just get some comments from you? You’ve only owned horses for a few years now and to have this kind of success is so remarkable. Can you just talk about the journey to being a back-to-back Breeders’ Cup winner?
BOB EDWARDS: Wow. I really don’t have much to say. It’s really impressive. We’ve had a great team. Chad was really confident in this filly back when she was at Stonestreet. He said, look, if you give her to me, I’ll take you to the Breeders’ Cup, and this was seven months ago, and I’ve said this before to other people, he’s delivered. It’s the combination once again. It’s Mike Ryan, it’s Chad, it’s Javier, you know, we were in the paddock, and Chad said, look, this is plan A, and if plan A doesn’t work out, Javier, work your magic, and once again, Javier worked his magic.
THE MODERATOR: And you picked her out.
BOB EDWARDS: Mike’s my Bloodstock agent, and yes, he is kind of one of my advisors. I use Mike, Ian from Stonestreet and now Brandon, I talk to the guys regularly, and they guide me and help me through the industry. Owners here, there’s a lot of great people in the business that kind of help you. And as you guys know, it’s a big social club. We all want to win, but at the end of the day, we’re all friendly. This is a really great sport, and we all love it.
THE MODERATOR: Did Chad relay anything to you after the race? What were his feelings?
BOB EDWARDS: He was getting ready to saddle up, so we didn’t have the download, you know.
Q. Since Chad is not here, could you kind of run through what you were hearing from Chad once Chad got –
BOB EDWARDS: You guys know Chad, right? He’ll get mad at me.
Q. Okay. That’s why we’re asking. That’s why we’re asking you. Just what were you hearing from him in New York?
BOB EDWARDS: He’s been confident all along. Obviously after her maiden, she was explosive. She kind of had anything go wrong could go wrong for her, she didn’t break well, she didn’t change leads well. But a really good horse and she seemed to overcome that. She got a little bit better in Keeneland, and same explosive speed. She’s what we call a Turf Rocky. She turned on that speed and took off. We were confident coming in here. Chad left her in Keeneland with Baldo, one of his assistants, and, you know, once again, it’s teamwork. It’s a great team. We’re confident coming in. Obviously it’s a stacked field. Aiden O’Brien has got great horses, Chad had another great horse here. You looked at the paddock, and every one of these fillies looked special. It’s hard to fault any of them.
Q. Javier, after the race at Keeneland, did you feel you were going to be on the best horse today?
JAVIER CASTELLANO: I
think so. Because the way she performed last time in Keeneland it was really soft ground. You don’t see too many horses do what she did last time and come from way back. She finished really well, and especially, you know, big field too. It was a big field. I mean, the pace was slow, and the way she closed, I think, I feel so much confidence to win the Breeders’ Cup because time-wise, we tried to time it perfect for the Breeders’ Cup. And Chad did a great job with the horse, the way he developed it, the way he picked the races to go to the bigger picture, and worked out great. Look like I said, Bob, you know, has the best horses in the world. 14 horses, and the best fields. The No. 2, Happily filly, she was a really good filly. Number 10, September, she was a really good filly. The 8 horse, Significant Form, is a filly, too, I mean, they’re all really good. It all depends how lucky you are in the race and how developed the race is, and have a great trip, and very lucky, very fortunate to be in this spot.
Q. Javier, do you have an explanation as to why Chad really excels in the turf races?
JAVIER CASTELLANO:
He’s very dedicated. You know. He picks the spot with the horse, develops with the horse. He takes his time. I think he does a great job. He’s every day, every single morning, and he tries to pay a little attention to the little details, and I think you put that together, and you always have a better result.
Don’t get me wrong. They have a lot of good trainers in New York and in the country, but the way he performs, he pays attention to every single detail. I think that’s what makes the difference.
Q. To illustrate that, this is Chad’s fourth win in this race. Also winning in 2008, 2014, and last year, of course. Bob, where will she go for the winter and what happens with her now?
BOB EDWARDS:
Ocala, she’s going to go down to Stonestreet and take the winter off. She deserves it.
Q. Maybe you can just tell us a little bit more about your string. How many horses do you have these days?
BOB EDWARDS: More
than I need and less than I want. That’s kind of the number. My wife might be listening. We have a fair bit of racers. We have a bunch at the farm in Ocala. We have a lot of yearly I goes from Tattersalls this year. We picked up European blood to come back. I have a horse with Jessica Harrington, I dropped a few off at hers. So we have a fairly Stoute up and coming stable.
Q. Breeder Fred Hertrich is here too of the horse. So thank you.
BOB EDWARDS:
Genius cross. I tell you. Should be exploited now.
FRED HERTRICH: Thank you, Bob.
BOB EDWARDS: Thank you.
Q. Now that you know what she can do on the turf, do you have any interest in trying to put her on the dirt and put her towards a Kentucky Oaks?
BOB EDWARDS: I think if I propose that to Chad, I will get some stern looks at me. We did that once.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
