Post-race comments from the connections of Quality Road
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from the Gulfstream website:
Winning Jockey Quotes
John R. Velazquez:
I knew we would have a lot of speed (coming in), but the trick was to settle him in there and make him relax. He was ready to run and run today. The closer we got to the finish (line) the stronger I felt we were getting. Its always special to win (races), but when you can pull off back-to-back (stakes) its even more special. It was a great day.
(Velazquez won the Canadian Turf Stakes aboard Twilight Meteor the race before.)
Winning Trainer Quote
Jimmy Jerkens:
I was glad to see him break sharp and then settle in. He came out of his last race with a little cough, but has trained great since then. Weve thought a lot of him from his first start. Hes got the pedigree to go on, but a one-turn mile is still basically a sprint and a lot different than going two turns. Well talk it over before making a decision on whats next. Im a New York guy so the Wood (Memorial on Apr. 4 at Aqueduct) might be one option. On the other hand, hes trained great over the track down here (Palm Meadows) and weather isnt likely to interrupt his schedule, so the Florida Derby is naturally a possibility. We missed the first deadline (for Triple Crown) nominations, but well put it up in March. It will just cost a little more.
Winning Jockey Quotes
John R. Velazquez:
I knew we would have a lot of speed (coming in), but the trick was to settle him in there and make him relax. He was ready to run and run today. The closer we got to the finish (line) the stronger I felt we were getting. Its always special to win (races), but when you can pull off back-to-back (stakes) its even more special. It was a great day.
(Velazquez won the Canadian Turf Stakes aboard Twilight Meteor the race before.)
Winning Trainer Quote
Jimmy Jerkens:
I was glad to see him break sharp and then settle in. He came out of his last race with a little cough, but has trained great since then. Weve thought a lot of him from his first start. Hes got the pedigree to go on, but a one-turn mile is still basically a sprint and a lot different than going two turns. Well talk it over before making a decision on whats next. Im a New York guy so the Wood (Memorial on Apr. 4 at Aqueduct) might be one option. On the other hand, hes trained great over the track down here (Palm Meadows) and weather isnt likely to interrupt his schedule, so the Florida Derby is naturally a possibility. We missed the first deadline (for Triple Crown) nominations, but well put it up in March. It will just cost a little more.
Comments
The connections of Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2) winner Quality Road will revel in the victory for a few days before choosing between the Florida Derby (G1) and Wood Memorial Stakes (G1) for his next start.
Chris Baker, the manager of owner-breeder Edward P. Evans’s Spring Hill Farm in Virginia, said on Monday that both races remain under consideration after the 4 1/4-length Fountain of Youth win.
Baker got a close view of the Elusive Quality colt’s development on the farm in Casanova, Virginia, and in his early training in Aiken, South Carolina.
Quality Road, who is out of a full sister to 1997 champion three-year-old filly Ajina, by Strawberry Road (Aus), failed to meet his reserve on a final bid of $110,000 in the 2007 Keeneland September yearling sale, which Baker attributed to his already sizable frame.
“When he was an RNA in September, because he was a big, scopey, lanky, immature type, we brought him back to the farm and didn’t send him down to Aiken to begin breaking until about the first of December [2007],” Baker said.
Quality Road joined trainer Jimmy Jerkens’s string at Belmont Park during the summer, and he matured gradually leading up to his dynamic debut win on November 29 at Aqueduct.
“He just took some time to come to hand, and that was the only reason [he debuted in November],” Baker said. “He didn’t have any injuries or big physical setbacks. It was more of us recognizing his immaturity and trying to be patient with him.
“He was always a colt who had done everything right, and coming out of Aiken, he was much more together for a colt of his size than you would normally expect. He struck Ron Stevens, who does all of our breaking and training, and struck me as a colt who was very athletic, in spite of his big, leggy size. I don’t know that he struck anybody as a graded stakes winner or a champion, but we had every reason to be optimistic, and he did impress us with his athleticism at that point.”
Several of the horses who finished behind Quality Road in the Fountain of Youth will be heading in other directions for their next starts.
Theregoesjojo chased home Quality Road and finished second, three weeks after missing the Risen Star Stakes (G3) at Fair Grounds because of a lung infection.
“We felt like we were going into the [Fountain of Youth] with a horse that was probably 80% or 90%, and he ran fine,” trainer Ken McPeek said.
The Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) on April 11 at Keeneland Race Course is a tentative next objective, McPeek said.
The Brahms colt has never raced on a synthetic surface, but he trained on Keeneland’s Polytrack surface as a two-year-old, McPeek said.
Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (G2) winner Beethoven finished 8 1/4 lengths back in third and remains penciled in for the Florida Derby (G1) on March 28 at Gulfstream.
“He ran like I expected,” trainer John Ward Jr. said. “He turned it on the last quarter of a mile and ran very fast down through there. That’s part of what the game plan will be as he goes farther and goes a mile-and-a-quarter. I thought he really responded quickly and well. I’m happy. I got what I needed.”
Beethoven finished fourth to Saratoga Sinner in the Holy Bull Stakes (G3) on January 31 at Gulfstream in his only other start since winning the Kentucky Jockey Club. Ward noted that Beethoven carried 122 pounds, eight pounds more than the winner, in both races.
“The horses that have won the preps down here have been very, very light weighted,” Ward said. “They’ll carry 126 pounds in the [Kentucky] Derby, and what you’re going to see as the game goes on is that the shift in weights is going to make a lot of difference.”
Trainer Ian Wilkes said Capt. Candyman Can’s fourth-place finish as the favorite in the Fountain of Youth left him with distance questions.
“The horse ran well, I’m not disappointed at all, but I’m just a little skeptical about how far he can go,” Wilkes said.
In his only start beyond one mile, the Candy Ride (Arg) gelding finished third, beaten by a half-length, in the 1 1/16-mile Kentucky Jockey Club. He won the Iroquois Stakes (G3) at a mile and the Hutcheson Stakes (G2) at seven furlongs.
Spectacular Bid Stakes (G3) winner Notonthesamepage bled in the Fountain of Youth while finishing seventh, trainer Wesley Ward said.
“It’s something we’ve been fighting with him and it came out again [Saturday],” Ward said. “It’s unfortunate, but I think we’ve got the makings of a pretty good miler. That’s where we will look from here.”
Trainer John Kimmel planned to have Nashua Stakes (G3) winner Break Water Edison thoroughly examined after he was eased in the stretch. He entered the Fountain of Youth off a last-place finish in the Hutcheson.