BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

October 26, 2002

Aidan P. O'Brien

AIDAN O'BRIEN: It's just one of those things, just one of those days. It was a big pity about LANDSEER. When that happens what can you say, it's terrible. Obviously it was great that HIGH CHAPARRAL won. It was good to go home a winner.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: I think he was drawn away so Mick was always going to take him time on him. He got into a little bit of trouble on the forced bend so he had to go back where he was, and then when they turned the back of the race down the back, always when the pace is slow and you're last it could be trouble. So then when the pace started he had LANDSEER in his sight and he had it in his mind that LANDSEER was going to take him close to the post, and then LANDSEER broke his leg turning which was terrible, and then ROCK OF GIBRALTAR lost his momentum and he ended up being in a very impossible position coming in. It was a great testimony to the horse really the ground he made up and to get so close and just the post came too quick for him today.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: HIGH CHAPARRAL has always been a top-class wonderful horse. The only time he got beat this year was in the arc (PH). It was probably my fault for not giving him a day out and he was just mentally very relaxed. We thought he was going to prove a lot from that. We thought three months that he wouldn't be here. He was very sick in the middle of the summer. I think it was a testimony to the horse really that he even turned up today, but we saw what he can do and it showed today there would be no problem when he drops back. He shows plenty quick and plenty of pace off a slowly run race today.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: You'd have to be impressed with him. We came here hoping to find a horse maybe to come back for the Kentucky Derby. I think if I was probably riding him myself I would have pulled him up before coming down the back. He's obviously really good cold. He found it very green. He was very green in the race, and to come to the outside and keep going and Kieran didn't beat him up, so I think he would have had a good experience if he would only come on from the run, so I think he's a horse to look forward to for next year, I think.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: There is a possibility, I suppose. Often when a horse gets beat after hard races -- he's had a very long hard season and today he might have had his hardest race because he had so much to do in this race and he's a horse that tries so hard, we'll see how he is. The post just came a little quick for him today.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: I think so. I think your style of racing you can school as much as you want but you can't be racing here. The way your horses break and the way they run those first two furlongs, you can do a lot of schooling and you can school until you're blue in the face but it's very hard to teach them that in the race. The pace of the races is so fast early, I think to take a couple of runs early before they really grasp it, I think the horse last year in Joe has been he is burring was unusually very, very fast and I think that's maybe how he got away with it. Obviously I would say we have to sharpen up on that.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: I think the race panned out for him, everything had to go well from the second half of the race and obviously when he was tracking LANDSEER we saw what happened and it didn't go well and he ended up trapped. He was kind of wide into the straight and needed enough ground to make up and he kind of lost his momentum when he was building into pace. It was just one of those days. It just didn't work for him today. Everybody is made of flesh and blood and it doesn't be the same every day. We had a great season with him and things have been working great from our season, just it's one of those days that didn't go perfect.