BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

November 6, 2021

Oisin Murphy

Yoshito Yahagi

Kazyuya Kotani

Del Mar Racetrack

Press Conference

Q. Oisin Murphy, I know you have to leave and catch a plane. What did you know about this filly heading into this race? She certainly out ran her odds.

OISIN MURPHY: Yeah, I didn't know a whole lot about Marche Lorraine. Her trainer, Mr. Yahagi, I ride a lot for in Japan and a fair bit for overseas. I've ridden for him in Dubai and Hong Kong. And he doesn't only travel unless they have no chance.

I tried to ignore her odds and just give her every chance in the run and hopefully she could finish off. And to be honest, we were obviously a hostage to fortune, I sat out the back, and they went quite quick. So we needed them to do that, but it was a brilliant performance.

Q. Take us through the race a little because the fractions were extremely fast, but she seemed to settle very nicely for you.

OISIN MURPHY: I broke very well. Even against the Americans I broke on turns and had enough speed early to kind of get a pitch if I wanted to. I didn't want to be stuck wide, so I took back a little before the turn.

Jose Ortiz is someone I look up to and he knows the dirt a lot better than I do and he wasn't going and I thought, well, best probably to follow him, and I just took my time behind him. I tried to be up close to him as possible to get less kickback and she traveled nicely. And maybe I moved a little bit too early. I thought if I didn't move early, I would get pushed wide around the turn and I had a choice to make whether to go wide or make a move and she was tough up the straight.

Q. Did you think you had it? It was very close.

OISIN MURPHY: I had no idea and I just said on the way back in, with the shadows, it's impossible to know exactly where the line is. It's obviously different for the guys that are riding here all the time.

Q. And, Yoshito, another incredible performance today by a Japanese horse, and Marche Lorraine had been training with Loves Only You. Just tell us a bit about Marche Lorraine and why you felt that the Breeders' Cup Distaff was well within her grasp.

YOSHITO YAHAGI: So traveling with two fillies from Japan wasn't the ideal plan, and so Marche Lorraine was a good partner for Loves Only You. And Marche Lorraine had three victories over turf in Japan and Mr. Yahagi was thinking that for horses to be competitive in the Dirt in the U.S., need to have some sort of speed, which means like winning turf races in Japan.

Q. Mr. Kotani, you mentioned that this is an ownership of 400 shareholders in the filly. How was that partnership put together?

KAZYUYA KOTANI: We have a minimum of 1/400 share to each horse and they have like a 50 to 70 horses per year and the club members can choose on which they want to be the syndication member of.