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BREEDERS' CUP WORLD THOROUGHBRED CHAMPIONSHIPSOctober 31, 2014Lanfranco DettoriBlake HeapMichael TaborDennis WardARCADIA, CALIFORNIA THE MODERATOR: Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf is Hootenanny, and we are joined downstairs in the media briefing room now by, on the left, Dennis Ward, father of trainer Wesley Ward; Blake Heap, who saddled the horse today, he's the assistant trainer for Wesley. We have Michael Tabor, and of course on the far right, Frankie Dettori. Frankie, I'd like to start with you. Just tell us about your perfect trip, if you could describe it for us? LANFRANCO DETTORI: Yeah, Wesley had lots of confidence, and basically my main concern is never run beyond 6. I rode the other Wesley's horse, Luck of the Kitten, and I know he's got a lot of speed, so I didn't want to get in a speed duel. He blew the first turn a bit, but once I got him asleep, I knew then that I had the race in my mercy. Again, he didn't corner the last corner too good, but in the stretch, he just picked up and he never looked like getting beat. Great for me, but also great for Wesley. Gave me confidence to put him on this horse and his first Breeders' Cup win. So I want to congratulate him. I'm going now because I'm in the next. THE MODERATOR: Blake, I assume you've spent time in Keeneland with this horse preparing for the race. If you could just talk about your confidence coming in, and the preparations the last few weeks? BLAKE HEAP: Well, actually, I was at Keeneland when the sale was there. I spent a week or two with him there then. The last couple weeks, Wesley had him strictly there, then he shipped him out two or three days ago, and I've had him since he's been here. So Wesley did pretty much everything. I just kind of oversaw everything for him. But all the credit has to go to Wesley. THE MODERATOR: Michael, if you could just talk about the campaign that this horse had this year flying overseas twice and this impressive performance today. Your impressions? MIKE FORD:  Well, Wesley was bold enough to send him to Royal Ascot, which obviously pleased all the connections. Then, of course, he sends him to France and he ran a great race there in the morning, and then to bring him back to win the Breeders' Cup. Now the options are all there, whether we send him back to Europe for next year. He obviously gets the mile pretty well, and he could run in the Guineas, and there are a host of races that are possibilities for him. THE MODERATOR: I should mention also this is the third time you all have won this race, three out of the eight runnings. Can you just talk about your knack for winning this race, and the great horses that you've brought here overall the last eight years? MICHAEL TABOR: Well, I think the first one was Johannesburg, wasn't it? Oh, Rhodes, yeah, he's a very good horse, and this has been a very lucky race for us. Obviously, we had War Envoy in this race, which we fancied quite a bit as well. To win, as I say, at the Breeders' is a very special, special event, and hopefully we can do it for many more years. THE MODERATOR: Dennis, if you could talk about what you had heard from Wesley about this horse, and also, if you would, I'm sure people are curious where Wesley is today. DENNIS WARD: Wesley is home with the grandkids. They've got basketball practice and they've got track meets. This is his time of the year for the kids. Anyway, he'd love to be here, but I know he's watching right now. But we've been doing this for all our life, so has Wesley, and he will go to any means to win anywhere in the world. Not just the United States, but anywhere in the world. I knew the Breeders' Cup was coming sooner or later. I'm glad it's sooner. THE MODERATOR: Blake, I would appreciate if you would talk more about the campaign this year, and all the traveling that this horse did? BLAKE HEAP: Well, Wesley, you know, when he breaks his horses, he moves them around quite a bit all the time. He spends a lot of time with young horses and doing things with them, and that's why they're seasoned very well. So when they do travel and do something, it's not new to them. They've traveled a lot. He kind of puts that in his breaking and regiment of training. So, really, it's strictly Wesley. I have to give the thumb's up to him. THE MODERATOR: This is a question for all of you. As you watched the race today, could you talk about Frankie's ride and your impressions watching it all unfold? MICHAEL TABOR: Yeah, I think obviously he rode a great race because he won. But the important thing was that you've seen this horse before go off in front, but only at 6, 6.5 furlongs, so to get the mile Frankie did the right thing. He just held on to him, and then he produced him, where if he had gone off like he normally does, he might not have gotten the trip, so he rode the ideal race. BLAKE HEAP: Well, we had the 3 horse in there that was speed also. So you can't let them both battle each other out or they're going to kill each other out. Mike drew the 3 hole, and Frankie drew the 5. So it kind of made sense to let the 3 go and the 5 just drop in line. So that was the game plan, and it just happened to work today. THE MODERATOR: It's beautiful when it works like that. Q. Mr.Tabor, the farthest your foal had done was six furlongs at Deauville. What gave you the confidence he would get a mile this effectively and win on the world's biggest stage? MICHAEL TABOR: Wesley gave us the confidence, simple as that. He's a very confident man. He said he would get the trip, and as I said, Frankie rode a different type of race to what you've seen before, and the plan worked very easily. Q. Michael, could you talk about the relative talent of the North American horses at this age on the turf compared to the Europeans? Are they catching up at all to the superiority of the Europeans at this point? MICHAEL TABOR: Well, if this is anything to go by, they're catching up. One swallow doesn't make a summer. Q. Michael, you've spoken about next year and the Guineas, as you said, there are lots of options. But in your mind, would that be the most likely plan for him to come to Europe next year? MICHAEL TABOR: Truthfully, I really‑‑ it's a possibility, that's for sure. But we have many options as you know, and we'll have to think about it. But to bring him over to Europe, I guess would be ideal. Maybe we'd wait for Royal Ascot for him, but there are many good races, so we have many choices. BLAKE HEAP: Let the horse tell you. MICHAEL TABOR: Exactly. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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