BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

October 26, 2002

Laura de Seroux

Michael E. Paulson

LAURA DE SEROUX: Well, now I can say yes, I did. I didn't want to be overconfident or bullish because that's not very gracious, but she is simply a fantastic filly. She's so fast and she's so relaxed doing it. Quite honestly I just felt that she was faster than the rest, simply.

MICHAEL PAULSON: Yeah, I'd like to speak for my family. I've got my brothers here, my wife, my dad's grandchild just called and we're all so excited. Excuse me, I'm just a little taken aback. It's a very emotional day. I wish my dad was here. We had full faith in this horse like Laura said. We didn't want to be bullish but we knew that she was going to do this performance today. She's in a league of her own, a world of her own, and she's a super horse. It's a gift left by my dad.

LAURA de SEROUX: Well, I think it's obvious. Years and years ago when I was still riding for him every morning, one morning I was riding back to the barn at Santa Anita like we did every day and he made us work seven days a week and he never gave us a day off and if we asked him for a day off he'd say why, why would you possibly want to be anywhere else but here. I thought about what it would be like to be in this world without him because he was so important to me, and I cried way back then, and that was when he still had probably eight or nine years left to live. I enjoyed every moment of knowing him and I know he's watching.

LAURA de SEROUX: I'll be fine in a minute.

LAURA de SEROUX: I'd have to say so because with each race she's been breaking sharper and sharper, and Mike was hoping -- he said that she broke the best ever today. That was why he was able to just hold that forepath which was his plan and go right to the lead. We never talked about doing anything else but letting her run her race and letting her roll because between Mike and I, we said we'd really never let her roll, so we were planning on doing it today.

LAURA de SEROUX: First of all, horses coming from the west coast are not used to wet tracks and they're not used to the sand and the grit that they find here and that was strictly precautionary so she didn't burn her heels. That's very possible with west coast based courses.

LAURA de SEROUX: I was delighted.

MICHAEL PAULSON: She had 108 and change at her last rate with 127 pounds on her.

LAURA de SEROUX: Most importantly, I had her in my binoculars and I could see she was running comfortably. She was doing it on her own. Mike wasn't asking her. I never lacked any confidence at all and I knew she'd kick away. I know it all sounds like hindsight, but I dreamed it.

LAURA de SEROUX: Immediately she's going to get a good rest because she's been going since November 1st of last year as you all know, so I'd say she's going to rest until the end of the year, and after that it's up to this fellow here.

MICHAEL PAULSON: We'll see what happens, but we're hoping to race her next year. It would be a shame not to. She's a superstar and we're going to let her race. She loves to race. That time she came in second, her first stakes race when she cut herself coming out of the gate, she was so upset for being second that it took her, what, about a week before she started eating again.

LAURA de SEROUX: It was the first time she looked like she had a hard race or even went off her feet. She's an extremely sound filly. That's another reason why I felt good this week, because we just haven't had any lurking problems or hiccoughs with her at all ever.

LAURA de SEROUX: Well, that's all up to you guys. She's never been in danger of losing a race. I mean, she has a record that is rarely seen. It's rare that you find a horse that can put together a win streak like that and only be second once in her life.

MICHAEL PAULSON: She's dominated all of her races like Laura said. She's literally cantered across the finish line in all of her last races. She's gotten rid of the opposition coming into the stretch.

MICHAEL PAULSON: Yes, I can see this was one of the great highs for my dad when he had CIGAR, and that's probably -- you couldn't stop my dad speaking about CIGAR everywhere we went, CIGAR, CIGAR, that was the highlight of his life.

LAURA de SEROUX: Orazi when Orazi, was good, too. CIGAR, actually it was kind of anticlimactic for my dad after CIGAR retired because how do you follow up CIGAR.

LAURA de SEROUX: Here she is.

MICHAEL PAULSON: I really want to take my hat off to Laura and her staff. The amount of time she put into these horses is phenomenal. I get to watch what they do. They get up at 5 in the morning, it's an all-day process every day and really give a good tribute to Laura and her staff. They've done an exceptional job with our horses. I'm very proud to have her as my trainer.

LAURA de SEROUX: I'd like to acknowledge my staff, too. You know, I have a great team at home, Alex Hassinger as you all know has won a couple BREEDERS' CUPS himself and he's been extremely supportive and a great backup for me. Dagmar Sycora (phonetic), who was the only female groom to ever watch for Charlie Wittingham is my shed foreman, so it's a Wittingham sort of family for me.

LAURA de SEROUX: I have my gift.