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143RD PREAKNESS STAKESMay 19, 2018Teo Ah KhingBob BaffertMike SmithKenny TrouttEllliott WaldenBaltimore, Maryland Q. Just take us around the track and take us through the race. MIKE SMITH: He loaded very well today, and man, again, I keep telling you guys what a mind he has. If you go back and really look at it, he's staring right down the racetrack and wouldn't take his eyes off them doors until they opened. Jumped extremely well, and I was really happy that he did that. A little bit concerned going around the first turn, he jumped the tracks right past the wire here where they're rolling the things out, and when he did, he really got to slipping. After we straightened up down the backside, he kind of got himself back underneath himself, and I felt very good. I looked over, and I looked to my inside and I thought it was Good Magic. I said, oh, man, it's going to be a match race from this point on. They tested his fitness today, they went on him early and he kept pushing on me and pushing on me to see if they could wear me out, I'm sure. Again, blessed to be on a horse with this much talent. And although he got tired today, he was also looking around a bit at the end. A bit of the greenness came out today, but he also got pushed pretty hard early on. Q. Mike, did you feel Bravazo coming down the stretch? MIKE SMITH: Yes, I did. I looked over about 100 yards to go, and I saw him on the outside but the wire was coming up pretty quick, and I saw we had him today. Q. Was it distracting to get in the lead and hold it throughout the race? MIKE SMITH: It was to jump out of the gate very well, be aggressive leaving there and then look to my inside and see who was going to do the same and who wasn't. I was actually surprised it wasn't your other horse that was up there with me. I thought it was for a second there it was so foggy, but then when I saw it was Good Magic. I knew we were in for a good horse race early on. I knew he was going to probably push me really early. At that point they were just going to test his fitness, and this is a race that he's going to get fit off of. That was by far his hardest race. In also saying that, he was also looking around a little bit at the end. Q. Mike, you said he got a little fatigued at the end. How comfortable are you moving on to the Belmont that that won't be a problem? MIKE SMITH: Well, Bravazo ran a big race to finish like he did. That's not taking away nothing from his performance. I felt pretty confident that we were okay at that point unless something unforeseen happened, but I thought that I had him at bay, and although it was a half a length, I certainly could have got after him a whole lot more a lot earlier and made him do a little more, as well. Q. How was the track compared to Churchill? MIKE SMITH: It was a lot more slick today than it was at Churchill. It was pretty sticky at Churchill. Today you weren't going in the ground really far, but it was just really, really slick. Q. Bob, can you talk about the three weeks coming up and how confident do you feel going into Belmont and winning another Triple Crown? BOB BAFFERT: Well, what we're going to do is like we did for this race. He has to show us, he has to come out of the race well, and he's got to be training really well. I did the same thing with American Pharoah, all my horses that ran the Triple Crown, they have to be 100 percent. And so we'll just -- he'll dictate. He seemed like he was -- he was blowing today. You could tell he was in a fight the whole way, but we'll just get him back to Kentucky and just -- we'll see how he trains. Right now, I don't see why not. Q. Bob, you win your seventh Preakness. Has that set in? Is the fact that you are constantly winning or could win another Triple Crown set in yet? BOB BAFFERT: Well, when he drew the 7, I thought right away, 7, 7, 7, like maybe -- as a trainer you're always looking for a sign, something, whether it's something -- when he drew the 7, I thought, well seventh Preakness, and it was -- but I knew we had the horse to do it. I knew we had it. He's a beautiful horse, and I'm just so proud of my team, Jimmy Barnes, Lalo the groom. It's a lot of stress. It's a lot of pressure, and we might not show it because we've been through this, but we hide it pretty well. Believe me, we're all on pins and needles. We've been on pins and needles all winter with all my other horses. But I just can't thank Kenny Troutt and the team, Elliott Walden, WinStar and everybody involved with this horse to trust me with such a beautiful animal, and Elliott is a former trainer. He knows what we go through, and he's great to work with, and his input is very important. You know, it's like we're all in it together. We're in this. It's like Camp Justify, so we're going into this as a team. And then the beauty of hooking up with Teo from China Horse Club with my favorite mare, Abel Tasman, who just gave me one of the biggest thrills winning the Kentucky Oaks last year. It's a great group, it's a fun group. There's no extra pressure on me because Elliott knows as a trainer, he takes care of everybody, and I just deal with Elliott, and we know what's going on. That's half the battle right there. Q. Seeing what you saw today, was it a result of the fight he was in today or the fact that he had so many races in such a short period of time? BOB BAFFERT: Well, I think he's had a lot of races right in a row, and he reminded me of American Pharoah's Derby win. American Pharoah was coming off a huge race, Oaklawn, and he had a fight. It was sort of the same thing, like he had to really dig deep and he was running with some good horses, and I think coming back in the two weeks, ran so incredible in the Derby, and you know, the Derby was sort of like that, a big effort. But I just think that he just -- the quality. I mean, the quality. You can only get away with that when you have a superior horse like he is. Sometimes as a trainer and as a jockey, we have to count on that horse to make up for -- I can only do so much in two weeks. I went really easy with him. You know, it was showing up there at the end, but Good Magic, he really put it to us. It was almost like the Sunday Silence, Easy Goer type. They didn't give it away. He was going to make us earn it, and I wasn't liking it down the backside. I was like, well, he's not running three, they're going to go ahead and take their big swing. But luckily this is what makes horse racing so great. These great horses, they just define themselves when they get in that situation, and today he just showed not only is he a big, beautiful, gorgeous horse, but he is all racehorse, and that's what it took to win today. Q. What was it like watching the race in the fog, how was it juggling that? BOB BAFFERT: Well, I was thinking it's got to be tough for Larry Collmus the announcer. He was probably saying, they're in the backside, I can't see the horses but there's Post Malone. It's like -- my boys were with me, and they said, I can't see anything, and when I heard my boys said, he's making his move, I saw the white colors turning for home, and I seen Mike was going on with it, and so he was -- I saw him going left-handed, I thought, well, he's going left-handed early, that probably means he's getting a little tired. But I was never really relaxed during the race. I knew he was in for a fight. I knew this was not going to be easy. But all I was doing, I was just praying for the wire. I was like, where's the wire, come quick, because he was just -- I'm very excited to hear my buddy Wayne Lukas ran second. That's awesome. Never count him out. He was always under the radar, but I'm glad that he ran second. Q. Kenny and Elliott, do you want to talk about that because everybody in the crowd was saying the same thing what Bob just said, they couldn't see who was winning and knew Mike was making his move. Just your range of emotions while this whole thing is unfolding? KENNY TROUTT: When this race was going on, I was there, and we were watching, and really what got me more than anything is when they kind of turned for home and all of a sudden I couldn't see him. That scared me to death. I was really -- I remember Bob talked about how nervous he was in the Derby. Well, I was that way down the stretch, and then finally they showed up right there, boom. It was unbelievable, absolutely. ELLIOTT WALDEN: It seemed like an eternity, but when they went into the fog, I was like, where are they, where are they, just the anticipation of them coming out, and you knew when they went in that he was in front, so you were hoping to see those white stilts coming out. I was a little concerned there were three or four horses around him, a little more than I would have hoped, but it was just exciting to see those white stilts out, and I thought he ran really well. Q. Did it seem fitting in a way that it was Wayne's horse that almost got you at the end? BOB BAFFERT: I didn't know whose horse it was. I knew there was a horse coming, and I didn't know until I got to the podium. I go, who ran second. Wayne did. Oh, that's great. I was like -- you know what, when the expectations are so high, added pressure for everybody involved, and all week. So it was -- the two weeks, it seems like it was quick, but it's a long week, long two weeks. We've been here before. You never really get used to it. It's exciting. It's stressful. But we have such a passion for it, you know, that that's why we do it. We love it, and so I'm just glad that we pulled it out. Q. Mike, provided everything goes according to plan and you're able to ride at Belmont, what does that mean for a jockey in your career? MIKE SMITH: I think it's everyone's dream come true. I mean, I think when you're a kid starting to ride or learning how to ride, it's always the Kentucky Derby, although for me it was the All-American. I was a quarter horse guy to start with, and then of course it was winning the Kentucky Derby, then after you're blessed to do that, you just want one chance at a Triple Crown. At my age, man, what a way to ride off into the sun set, although I don't plan on retiring any time soon. I don't think I got that opportunity at a young age because I don't think I was ready for it. Although right now I am. I'm at peace. I can't wait to get to the next stage. Q. Mr. Teo, your thoughts on winning? TEO AH KHING: Well, first of all, I must thank you everyone in the media, and today, the race is like my longest race in my life. Waiting for 20 seconds without seeing the result, it was like years. But I will say that this is one of the most exciting. I'm going to say that I'm just looking at the messages from the phone, and all our fans and our members and some of them are here, very, very thankful that we participated in the Preakness, and we love this town, and we will bring a lot of fond memories with us. Q. Elliott, you were the trainer that stopped the Triple Crown bid some 20 years ago. Have you thought about that at all the last maybe hour? ELLIOTT WALDEN: No, just really focused on the day, and Bob and his crew did a wonderful job. Dave Graney (phonetic) mentioned earlier in the week about Humberto, their exercise rider, and his father passing away a couple days ago, and Bob said his crew works so hard and everybody on the racetrack works so hard. It was great to see him right after the race, and I told him, this is for your dad, and it was special. It was special. I haven't thought about that, Bob -- Q. I'm sure you'll be asked it a lot in the next couple weeks? ELLIOTT WALDEN: I'm sure we will. But those things tend to happen the way they're supposed to happen. Bob and I talked about that before, that when you mentioned American Pharoah, Seattle Slew, the horses that won the Triple Crown, take nothing away from Real Quiet, he won two of the three, but just wasn't quite the horse that could get that done. So if Justify is meant to do it, it'll happen, and if not, it just won't. BOB BAFFERT: Also, next three weeks, just call Elliott with all your questions. Q. Bob, coming off this race, what's your confidence level in this horse? BOB BAFFERT: Well, since the first time we worked him, raced him at Santa Anita, and when he broke his maiden, we've always known, we were pretty confident we had something really, really special, something like an American Pharoah type, like Arrogate, something special -- they're freaky horses, just like all the greats, like Seattle Slew, Spectacular Bid. Our job is just try to manage him as well as we can. That's what we try to do. We have to go back on all my experiences to get him there. But one thing about him, he's a big, heavy strong horse, and he -- races don't knock him out. He will eat everything tonight. That's just the way he is. That's one thing about his groom, same groom as American Pharoah and all the good ones. He eats everything. He'll eat everything tonight and just -- his appetite, he looks a little heavy to me today in the paddock because we've been pretty easy, but he's just a massive -- he's just such a beautiful -- I know you keep hearing me say the thing, but I would love to put a western saddle on him and ride him in the rose parade if they would let me. He's just so beautiful. Q. Elliott and Bob, coming out of this race will you keep an eye on the foot that was a small issue coming out of the Derby? ELLIOTT WALDEN: I would defer to Bob. Bob is the trainer. BOB BAFFERT: No, I mean, that's something -- any time a horse runs on a wet track, you're going to deal with things like that. It was unfortunate. I didn't know about it. We didn't know about it, and I brought him out there to show him off. So I'm going to be really reluctant to bring him out and show him off to you guys tomorrow. But he looked good, and he felt it. It was one day when he got on the gravel, we picked up on it, got -- I mean, it was something minor, and so unfortunately it was -- like anything, we have the Derby winner, so any little thing -- I remember going back, I remember Sunday Silence had a bruise before he won the Preakness, and a lot of horses -- I've had a lot of horses that get bruises, but we deal with it, and now that we know what -- within 24 hours, he was fine. It's just something that -- it's like a girl getting a blister with her high heels on one day. A couple days, you're fine. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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