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142ND PREAKNESS STAKES


May 20, 2017


Chad Brown

Javier Castellano

Seth Klarman

William Lawrence


Baltimore, Maryland

THE MODERATOR: We welcome you and say congratulations. Mr. Klarman, your thoughts as Javier was leading your horse past Classic Empire and across the finish line today.
SETH KLARMAN: It was unbelievably exciting. Grew up three blocks from here. Was a big fan of racing from a kid and came to the Preakness many, many times. Never imagined I'd own a horse, let alone be the winner of the Preakness. Chad had a brilliant plan to bring the horse here and a brilliant plan for how the race was going to be run. And we sat exactly where we wanted to. Javier executed just perfectly on Chad's plan and here we are right now.

Q. When did you realize you had a special horse that could do this?
SETH KLARMAN: I think if people have seen his first race, when he was maiden, he broke relatively poorly and made an amazing move on the outside. And he looked like he had no chance to win, and he won that race. And Chad and I discussed after the race how special he was.
We took the risk of moving him up into a stakes race (indiscernible) going long in the second race of his life, and he ran a fabulous second. So we knew we had a special horse. And of course I'm not a horseman but Chad is. And when Chad said this horse can do special things, we put him on the trail to Triple Crown-type races.

Q. Can you talk about growing up here and being a race fan, what got you into racing? And how much different is it from what you do for a living and why are you here today?
SETH KLARMAN: I started out as a teenager handicapping, enjoying the races, enjoying the athletic performances and enjoying the puzzle of trying to figure out who might win a race.
As an adult, I was offered the opportunity to participate in a small partnership and gradually became an owner about 25 years ago. And this is the culmination of 25 years of hard work and learning and trying to figure this game out.

Q. How much different is this than what you do in your regular life?
SETH KLARMAN: In my regular life I'm a long-term value investor. So we make patient long-term investors on behalf of our clients.
This is gambling. This is a risky undertaking. This is not at all unlike what I do in the rest of my life, but it does provide one of the highest levels of excitement that a person can have. It's really been a thrill and this is the highlight of our career so far as thoroughbred owners.

Q. Do you have any regrets not running in the Kentucky Derby?
SETH KLARMAN: No regrets. I think possibly some of the reason that we won today was because we were patient and didn't throw an inexperienced horse against a 20-horse field in the Derby on a very difficult track. So I think that's actually why we're here today.
I've also learned in life that you don't look back with a lot of would-have, could-have, should-have, that we made a great call and we're ecstatic today and we'll worry about the future, not the past. So thank you for the question.

Q. Javier, you didn't run in the Kentucky Derby. What made you so confident to win today?
JAVIER CASTELLANO: Well, I think I have a lot of confidence with the horse. I never had the opportunity to ride the horse, you can see. But the way I saw it at races and the analysis, and Mr. Brown give me the opportunity to ride a horse. I'm thankful for that, and it was a great combination.
We have a good clip in the past and the last couple of years we've been very successful. And (indiscernible) and tried to make the best choice. And first of all, he gave me the opportunity to ride the horse in the Preakness, and I took it from there. And it worked out great. I think it was a great combination, and I've been blessed to have the opportunity. And I think we just enjoy the ride.

Q. Javier, was it your strategy to get to the rail and go?
JAVIER CASTELLANO: Well, I spoke to Mr. Brown before the race. We have a plan. We sticking with the plan. It worked out great. We analyzed the race. We handicapped it together. We had a lot of talks. So we put it together, and I think that's the most important thing in a relationship when we have a great communication. I think it was a key to win the race.

Q. Chad, when did you have a sense that this horse could win today?
CHAD BROWN: Well, we always liked this horse as a two-year-old. He got injured up at Saratoga. He was one of our first two-year-olds to run actually. He showed a lot of talent right away. Ironically him and Practical Joke were identified as Seth and Bill's horses as two of the best in the crop. And Practical did well and this horse got hurt.
So we rested him, and Seth and Bill have always been extremely patient with their horses, no rush and whatever is best for them we do. We knew he was good right away. How did we know he was this good, Preakness good? I'd say in his second start, in the Gotham, when he was kind of chasing a fast pace and then made another run in the lane, he just never quit.
We huddled up and said this horse is really special and he can go that far. How do we get to the Derby? And it just didn't work out in the Wood. We just ran out of time. Looking back on it, it was a bit of a speed buyer's track that day, and he was one of the only horses that closed ground really.
After that it really wasn't a hard decision. We had the points and we got together and we just really zeroed in on this race, and thankfully it worked out.

Q. Chad, a lot of trainers wait a lifetime to get a Triple Crown win. You got yours in your first try.
CHAD BROWN: Well, I'll tell you, it's not quite like that. I feel like it's been a lifetime for me, really. Because you've got to put a lot of time in.
And I've been training now for 10 years. We've run four horses in the Derby. This is our first Preakness try. But I personally put a lot of time, and my staff's put a lot of time in. When you add the time as an assistant trainer, for two great trainers, it feels like I've been doing it forever, really.
So I don't take it for granted. I know I'm young. But you have to have an incredible team of people that share a common goal. And everyone has to have the same drive as me. And I feel I have that with my team -- an outstanding jockey to work with like Javier and supportive owners that are patient.
This horse worked hard and needed a lot of care and patience. It all came together. I feel like it was a lot of work and well deserved by everybody.
WILLIAM LAWRENCE: I whispered to Chad in the winner's circle, best dirt trainer in the country, which is a little joke. People think he can only train turf trainer.

Q. What are your plans for tomorrow in terms of are you going to be at the stakes barn? And when do you plan on shipping him out?
CHAD BROWN: The horse is scheduled to leave tomorrow. We had lined that up ahead of time. And we're probably going to get back to our home base in New York. The tough part about this job is I have a lot of other horses and right now, luckily, good horses that need care and attention and training. And it's great to win. And we'll really enjoy it, but I've got to get back to work tomorrow.

Q. Timeframe on that?
CHAD BROWN: Not yet. We'll figure it out.

Q. Chad, you've had success. You were Eclipse Award-winning trainer last year. Is there a level of success that this brings you winning a Triple Crown race that maybe the others did not?
CHAD BROWN: Absolutely. Such a rare race, Triple Crown race, and a huge part for me, for our team, for our clientele.
And another personal note, I was thinking about this in the winner's circle there, I've always praised my mentor Bobby Frankel who taught me so much. And it just seems like he's won every race but the Derby and Preakness, really. This is the only race that eluded him in his unbelievable career.
I feel this is for him, at least from my viewpoint. And without his mentorship I certainly wouldn't be here.

Q. (Question off microphone)
CHAD BROWN: It sure did. And the first thing was getting a clean break. Here's a horse that's only run three times and two of them he broke bad.
It's Javier's first time riding the horse. I made him aware of that. What helps in situations like this is that we have good chemistry. He's ridden a lot of top horses for me and ridden them well. We work well together.
When I relay information about a horse or a plan, he knows just what I'm talking about and he can get it done. And that's big. Once he got a spot early, we figured the race can be won or lost in that first turn. And I feel he won that race right in that first turn.

Q. The Belmont, the next big Triple Crown race, your plans to --
CHAD BROWN: We really don't know. We were just going to take it race by race with this horse. We're going to see.
Do I think he's a mile-and-a-half horse? He's never really struck me that way, but I'm not going to rule it out. Let's see how he comes out of it and who is running and get a feel for it. And I'll leave it as a possibility right now.

Q. Mr. Lawrence, would you like to see your horse go to the Belmont?
WILLIAM LAWRENCE: Yeah, we'd like to see it but only if it's the right thing for the horse. This horse ran a couple of races three weeks apart.
We all were pretty much in agreement that while it would be great to run in the Derby, I guess it helped that we had another horse run the Derby, put in a nice performance, we're not going to hurt the horse. There's plenty of big races ahead.
We trust Chad and feel very confident in him. He'll let us know how the horse is doing and his team. They're working there every day. We're not there in the barn every day. I think we're pretty good about making suggestions but following Chad's lead. If he says go, we'll go. If he says no, we're not going to go.

Q. Mr. Lawrence, the actual acquisition of the horse as a yearling, what went into that decision?
WILLIAM LAWRENCE: Mike Ryan bought it for us. Chad will remember more. We're very lucky. We own a lot of horses, and putting all the pieces backwards and where they were. But again the point person for everything we're doing is Chad. And he's involved from -- we want him to know the horses he's going to get and make sure he's happy with them. Because, again, him and his team are putting a lot of hours and a lot of work into developing these horses. You may know a little more.
CHAD BROWN: I'd say about three or four years ago we added Mike Ryan to help me identify these horses. And he found this horse. We work well together in the sales (phonetic).
He looks at these horses and I'll come in and look at them, figure out what works for us. We work together. But he deserves the credit for finding this one. And his career speaks for itself. He's been doing it a long time. We're happy to have him on our team scouting for us.
THE MODERATOR: On behalf of the Maryland Jockey Club, congratulations.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
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