BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

November 1, 2024

Ryan Moore

Aidan P. O'Brien

M.V. Magnier

Del Mar Fairgrounds

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner, Henri Matisse. We have Ryan Moore here now. We heard some information that the horse maybe wanted to have a different trip than he had previously. Take us through how things went for you from the start.

RYAN MOORE: Look, he won that very easily. He always showed a bit of it from right from the start, and he was a very good winner of the Futurity, and he beat the horse that won it in Group 1. And things didn't go right in either the National Stakes or the Lagardere. Both times the ground was a bit slower than what he probably would like, and we learned a few things about him.

But today I suppose we're a bit fortunate that there was only the 12, and so a couple coming out made it a little bit easier.

We thought he was better than anything else in the race anyway. And it's just a matter of working out a decent trip. The post was a bit awkward and it didn't go really fast. He was able to get into good rhythm, and he took me into the race so easily and I didn't have to ask him for everything. He won that race comfortably. Couldn't be happier with him. Everything went very smooth, and I thought it was a very good performance.

THE MODERATOR: I have Aidan O'Brien and M.V. Magnier. Congratulations. We were talking to Ryan about the trip he had. Aidan, the horse, the last race, the ground maybe very soft that he was on, and so were you always looking forward to getting him in a race like this on this type of turf course?

AIDAN P. O'BRIEN: Yeah, and the time before the last, he went to the front in the National Stakes, and he jinked a little bit. He was a little bit immature mentally. I decided to put blinkers on him the last time. It was the wrong thing. Ryan rode him, and he got squares early and got a little bit intimidated.

Ryan came in and he said he got intimidated early, got back further than he wanted. And he wasn't mad about the bad ground. So there were three very legitimate excuses where it could happen.

And Ryan said this race would suit him, fast ground a mile, good pace, and he was going to take his time on him.

He worked during the week, Ryan rode him very well we thought the world of him. He's had a very good mare. He's by Wootton Bassett, doing things that's supernatural, really, as a stallion.

Ryan gave him a masterful ride. Really took his time on him, didn't go to sleep, put any pressure on him. Brought him around the outside, never went for the maximum on him. I think he had a very good experience today, and we learned a lot about him. And he's a big horse. He's going to get better over the winter, and we think and hope he's going to be a horse that we look forward to for next year.

Q. M.V., already a very good day here at the Breeders' Cup, which has been a goal that you all point to towards the end of the year, but with horses like this and Lake Victoria and coming over here, big day tomorrow as well. So for this ownership group, how important is it to target these races and the success in races like the Breeders' Cup?

M.V. MAGNIER: The Breeders' Cup puts on an incredible event every year. We've been supporting it for a very long time and will continue to do that. In fairness to Michael and Derrick and all the lads, they're fully behind it. And it's been a very good day, and hopefully tomorrow it will be good also.

Q. Aidan, I know it's early after the race. Would you be thinking of this horse as a Guineas horse or French Guineas horse? Any thoughts about what his three-year-old year might hold for him?

AIDAN P. O'BRIEN: We always discuss those things over the winter and see into the spring, but I asked Ryan after the race, and he said he felt like a miler. When Ryan would say that, usually obviously there's a chance that he could get a mile and a quarter. But I would say Ryan's initial reaction was he would be a miler, and that means he would be a Guineas horse. You could ask him yourself. But when I asked him the question, that's what he said.

Q. Is that what you said?

RYAN MOORE: Three Guineas, so I suppose work out which one.

Q. But he's won over six too?

RYAN MOORE: He's a Stakes winner at six.

AIDAN P. O'BRIEN: He won the group race over six. Obviously has loads of speed. I think the dam was very fast, M.V.?

M.V. MAGNIER: She's a very good filly that Charlie knows -- raised. And he ended up buying the mare, and thankfully Charlie ended up staying in here. It's a good result. And what Wootton Bassett is doing is pretty freakish.

Isn't it, Aidan?

AIDAN P. O'BRIEN: Yes. His statistics are incredible. I think he's gone three or four above what any other stallion ever did with individual group stakes horses in a year.

I think he was four above coming into today. Now he's five above. I think his statistics are off the record for some very unusual reason, obviously when the lads brought him the good mares, it really improved him, I think.

Q. Ryan and M.V. Magnier, you're all a team. If you could each reflect a little bit on Aidan's accomplishment of 20 Breeders' Cup victories, seven in the Juvenile Turf, and what it's like to be a part of the team.

M.V. MAGNIER: Easy to answer that one. I'm very lucky and privileged to be sitting beside these two greats. Simple as that.

RYAN MOORE: Aidan says it's all teamwork, but I remember watching Johannesburg win in Belmont as a kid. And Aidan's been doing this for -- how long ago was that? -- 23 years ago now. Yeah, what he's done is incredible.