BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

October 26, 2002

John Velazquez

JOHN VELAZQUEZ: Most definitely. Good horses makes these big winners. I was very fortunate today that I rode good horses and they came through for me.

JOHN VELAZQUEZ: Well, she kind of opened up almost half a length on me going down to the eighth pole, I was just hoping my horse would respond. She ran today so green, it felt like she ran the first time ever. All the way around I knew I just had to keep her mind running and kind of reminding her come on, we've got to run today. She was looking around, very spotty, and on the backside she was having a hard time kind of handling the track, same thing, just being green. But second turn I had to get after her just to get her mind going to run. At the quarter pole when I passed the horse she opened up a half length. She completely slowed down. That's how the horse came and went by us, and when I got really beating on her, hit it left-handed, she responded right away. I knew she had it, whether she would give it to me or not being that green. She showed she has a lot of class.

JOHN VELAZQUEZ: Well, today she obviously had a race under her, and we broke well, went right to the rail, saved a lot of ground, and she loves the turf the way it is. It really helped us more than anything else. We got to save a lot of the ground and I think that made a lot of the difference in the way she won today.

JOHN VELAZQUEZ: I didn't see it. I was so far back. I knew he won. I was very happy for Mr. Johnson and Jose. That horse has been knocking on the doors for a long time, grass or dirt. I tell you what, they made a really good decision. They looked like they did a good thing. He could have run the mile in the grass, a mile and a half in the grass and decided to run in the dirt, and look at this, ended up winning the race. I guess they did the right thing for him.

JOHN VELAZQUEZ: I think he's been working for me since '98, early '98, the spring of '98. It's been great to have him as an agent, because he's been like a mentor for me. He's been a father, he's been everything to me since I came here since he was the one that brought me here. He's been a great teacher for me, been a lot of help for me. I think all the things I've done it's because I learned quickly and I had a good teacher.

JOHN VELAZQUEZ: Sometimes.

JOHN VELAZQUEZ: You know, this is really funny because he was getting on a lot of horses that I never saw the horses. He was getting on -- it was keep away. He was getting on all those big horses, Lukas. I never got to see those horses. A lot of people started saying that he was working the horses for me, which didn't make any sense. And then a lot of the agents complained and they made a rule that he couldn't get on horses anymore. That's in the past and I think he's been doing it for a little while now. I think he just loves it. He loves to be in the game. It keeps him fit and keeps his mind going. He was born to be a jockey and loves to be on a horse.

JOHN VELAZQUEZ: I have no doubt she can do anything possible. That decision is going to be to the owner and suing. I couldn't put too much input into that because they own the horse, he's the trainer and he knows it very well and I think he's going to do the right thing by her.

JOHN VELAZQUEZ: I believe I believe so. There's a lot to see from her. She still doesn't know very much. She's very green and she has all these weird things that she does. It's a whole lot more on her, though. She's got to put it out. I think with age and more raise racing I think she's going to be better. Every race when I rode her back in New York she got better, but today here was all new to her so she didn't know anything really. She was here a few days, all the crowd, everything was different to her, so she was a little bit green today. I think only with racing and more time, I think she's going to be all right.

JOHN VELAZQUEZ: That's funny because it did cross my mind. When I saw the horse coming in my outside, I had some horse left but I didn't know if she was going to give it to me running the way she was running, and then I switched my weapon and it was like a flash back the way I did with dozen. I hit it left-handed and he came back into the game. It was a great feeling having it there, and when you hit a horse to get it to respond and she responded that way, it was a great feeling.

JOHN VELAZQUEZ: Thank you very much.