BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

October 25, 2003

Jerry Ford

Richard Mandella

Aidan P. O'Brien

Alex Solis, Jr.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: We were delighted to be involved in the photo. The plan was down the back to get out and let him stretch. Mick just got locked in and he couldn't get open until the very late. I think that we felt he did amazingly well to get back into the position that he got into.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: Yes. We always thought that he was a better horse, that his bunch of three year olds were always better than this year's. We always felt that. We felt that the last time he won on merit and everybody was saying, a lot of people in town and on the last day he quickened to the front. He then started pulling up and pricking his ears and the second Islington was on his outside running on and the other was on his inside running on and it might have made him look like they were running on than they really were. He's a horse that goes to the front. It was never a problem to him to be in the front. He's always had a little problem in his off shoulder. And that could be the reason why like he's never been beaten left. But the three times he's been beaten have been right-handed. Twice at Longsham and Mick always felt coming down the hill and going right-handed, he doesn't have time to back off. And he can go quicker to the right than he does left. We were delighted with the run today.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: He said a mile and an eight, his words were a mile and an eight, he said you couldn't beat him. So must have felt that just maybe the mile and a quarter, the Classic, might have just stretched him.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: Yeah, amazing. I can't believe that. That's all I can say about it.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: No, not really. We're always delighted to be involved in those kind of things. And we're delighted that the horse ran well. And obviously it was great that he won.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: Actually, it's a big team effort. And like it didn't matter -- like it obviously was a huge thing, a dead heat. Everybody had done their job and the team worked and I was just saying well done to a lot of people.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: It was great that he won. I think it was a relief for everyone involved that he did get the dead heat. I think for everyone involved that puts a lot of hard work and time and money involved in this that we get a good result.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: Yeah. We felt that Landcrest had come into her own the second half. She's a filly that wants to be led strong, gallop strong. And we were very hopeful that if she broke she would break in the big race, and yesterday ran a great race as well. Obviously the ground was a little quick for her. She just got back a little bit and came home really. We were delighted with two fillies, and like I said, in training there will be two very serious four year olds to wait to have improved through the year.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: About the heat?

AIDAN O'BRIEN: No, like I said before, like we're much happier coming to the heat than the cold. If you live in Ireland, like we do, you're delighted to be coming to the sun. Every human being that I know, when they come to the sun, they're in better form. And obviously the horses must be the same. I know it's an extreme. It's very warm. But I think that over a few days they adapted. I think the big thing is coming to these races to have the right horses.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: Well, I didn't give him any instructions. He felt that he broke quick. He felt like they squeezed him a little bit earlier, I think. Edgar made the decision, and he was happy with it. He seemed to have a nice position. He was just off of the kickback turning down the back, and he just felt that he might make up the last if you are long.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: Obviously it's very special to everybody and to the horse. He's a horse that whenever he wins races, he doesn't win very much because he is very idle. I think the horse coming on his outside today helped him. When he turned in, I thought he had too much ground to make up. When he is back like that, he's inclined to lose interest and doesn't be competitive. But when the horse came on his outside, he got competitive again and came home. He's probably a horse that there's no point in me trying to hype myself or whatever. But he's probably a horse that probably deserved all the credit he got anyway. We always considered him a very serious horse.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: Oh, please, God, if we're all alive, I look forward to it.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: Hopefully.

AIDAN O'BRIEN: Certainly. Thank you very much.

RICHARD MANDELLA: I got one more in. (Laughter.)

RICHARD MANDELLA: Sure. Right.

ALEX SOLIS: Well, right when I got to pulling up we got pulled up right next to each other. He asked me, what you think? I said, man, that's very close. That's what I felt about it. It was an incredible race.

RICHARD MANDELLA: I don't want to -- I don't know how to describe it. It's like I said at the press conference when we had the preentries, the day I won four here last time, if I would have known I was going to do it, I could have really enjoyed it and had a great day with it. But I was in shock all day and by the time I came out of the shock and figured out what I did, everybody had gone home. And I'm still in shock here. So I don't know. I didn't believe this could happen again. But it happened bigger and better.

JERRY FORD: Well, I really think the magic was Richard, Alex, and the horse. We felt good about it. And we're thrilled with it.

RICHARD MANDELLA: I think they ought to just move it here myself. (Laughter.)

RICHARD MANDELLA: Vindication went to stud, this is Pleasantly Perfect. But I have never, I stated right from the start, I never had frustration over the rule in Chicago. Rules are rules, and I don't have any problem with them. Again, I'll say that rules should be uniform from state to state so that people don't get mixed up or do the wrong thing when they travel. Because nowadays, travel's a big part of racing.

RICHARD MANDELLA: I don't know how to answer that. I can't speak. I don't know. They were all great horses. How to top one from another is just too hard. This horse particularly is gratifying because we did get set back last year. But once he ever got training well, you all heard about the virus that he had that affected his heart sac and enlarged his heart when he was a two year old. So we had to wait a year to train him. But once he ever got healthy enough to train, we thought we had a good horse, as everybody thinks they have good horses. But he proved he was good. Just little by little. He went from a maiden at Santa Anita to winning the Good Wood and now here in October. But it is particularly gratifying to get him back, especially it was a frustrating year and then to come so good.

RICHARD MANDELLA: Mr. Hughes is a prince of a man to give me those horses last year, as all my owners. I got to be the most privileged trainer in the world to train for people I do. He told me, do whatever I wanted. He never tried to suggest one way or the other. And it's rare that a young colt would give you confidence like that. But he did. When you got it and you're 53 years old, you got to go. You might not have tomorrow.

ALEX SOLIS: Yeah, sure. He broke really alert. If I wanted to, he could have been even closer. That's how sharp he was. Right away I just put my head down and just went quiet on him. And right away he relaxed. During the run of the race at all times he was ready for my command, every time I move my hands on him, and he was very alert. The whole way out he had a good trip. I saved some ground. At that particular time I just had to be patient. That was the main thing in my head. Just be patient. Take your time. When we got to the back side, right away I start looking to see who was following me in the race. And right away I saw Gary with Perfect Drift in front of me, and said, well, that's one of the horses to beat, and I followed him. And Gary is a great rider. And he went through on the inside, and I followed him around the turn there. And right when we got to the quarter pole, he was asking his horse, he seems like he wasn't responding very much. So I said, I stand to go out now. And right at that quarter pole I got him out in the clear. And down the stretch I knew he was coming so strong. And I know when you really ask him down the stretch, I know he was going to give me it today. A big kick, just like he always does. I put my whip to him on the left hand, down the 8 pole, and he just blew by those two horses.

ALEX SOLIS: No, I tell you one thing: I didn't want to say to him, because I know he's very superstitious, you know, but for the last three weeks that we have been training the horse, I come and work him and see the job he was doing. And I didn't want to say anything to him because I know him real well. So he's, I saw how the horse were coming to race every week they were getting stronger and stronger and better and better. Of course, I don't want to say that to him because he is a little loco. (Laughter.) But, yeah he did a great job and now that's one of the things that really build my confidence was being those three weeks training the horses.

RICHARD MANDELLA: Yes. I've always thought Johar was as good as any man's horse on the grass. Any time he ever got beat, he had a tough trip or just a little bad luck. As you all read, he had a stress fracture in his shoulder early this spring and we had to stop. I had it planned without a lot of time for any error to get him back again, the way I usually do things. I ran him half fit at Delmar and just basically gave him a race. He came out of that in flying colors. The race came up crazy in the Clement Heritage where he took the lead. He had never been on the lead working or racing. And just basically was confused and ran I thought it was a terrific race. And I felt, I felt that that time the Breeders' Cup won't be that way. There will be pace, there will be everything that you would expect. And he will be up to his best race and I thought it was good enough to beat anybody.

RICHARD MANDELLA: I knew he was looking at me upstairs, but I didn't know he was going to really speak. (Laughter.) I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Say that again?

RICHARD MANDELLA: No, you get old horses like this you got to take the best horse. The babies I thought was an advantage to be home. They don't -- it's not good to be shipping them around the country. These old horses have done everything and been every where. My horse just needed to get his race under him. We thought he was good enough last year for those and we didn't get a chance to really prove it. And we have now.

ALEX SOLIS: Yeah, this win is for Bill. An incredible rider and person. It's too bad that he's not here. But he's in a better place right now. He's probably celebrating with Charlie.

JERRY FORD: We don't really talk it over with the trainer, Dick knows what he's going to do with the horses and that's what we do. But we really are just thrilled with the race, thrilled with racing. I would anticipate that we would keep running him until we're ready to put him out. (Laughter.)

RICHARD MANDELLA: I'll vote for that.

ALEX SOLIS: Too many horses retired this year.

RICHARD MANDELLA: Well it started out with my father. I grew up on a ranch actually until I was nine in California here and we, at nine I moved to Cherry Valley at Beaumont, California where Three Ring Ranch was. My father had a small ranch there of nine acres and we had a little circle race track where we trained quarter horses and thoroughbreds and Appaloosas, but only a few at a time. My father was a very good blacksmith. We raised a few horses, we took old horses that were broke down and tried to patch them up and bring them back. And I don't think a young person could have a better all around education as what I got on that farm. I did a little bit of everything. When I became 16 I was talked into going to work at Three Rings Ranch, which was at the time I would say the biggest farm in California. And got to break and train 100 different yearlings a year there for five and a half years. So back to what I was saying, my father gave me the basics, which will hold you in this business. Those are the most important things. I went on to Ferrell Jones's ranch for a year and working at Santa Anita. And I met a man named V. J. Nickerson who I can't praise enough for the education he gave me in a very short time. It was just one of those magnetic or magical things that happen when you meet somebody and a light goes on and this man tells you everything, the answer to every question you ever had in your life without even askin it. It's been that way from the start and I spoke to him today and he's is watching the program. He's an a second father to me. And I think the world of him. Others along the way, but those are the most important. I had a feeling of confidence this week when I, you all read, in fact you all wrote that I was mad after that one work out of Pleasantly Perfect. Because he worked too fast and I remember after I did that that when KOTASHAAN before he won the Breeders' Cup I worked him a mile and 35 and change and I was standing by the wire and I was damn, son of a gun and some other language that I created, and Charlie Wittingham told me do that and he walked over and he said Dick, what's the matter? I said, "Oh, I told this rider to work this horse a mile and 38 and he went in 35 and change." And he looked at me and said, "Damn, he can run, can't he?" That's the way to look at it.

JERRY FORD: Well we were very disappointed that Dick entered the other horse. (Laughter.) Absent that, I thought he ran a great race. I thought Alex road a great race. We're real excited about the horse and these 2 year old's are supposed to come out sound. But we're very excited about it.

JERRY FORD: They're asking about you.

RICHARD MANDELLA: Sorry.

JERRY FORD: They're asking me about you. Well thorough, dedication, impeccable integrity. I have implicit trust in him. When I got in the business I knew nothing about it. He would advise me that I know a little more now, 10 years later. But I think we have an outstanding working relationship. Have all the confidence in the world in him and his abilities. And he loves the horses. They're all individual personalities to him. I don't always see or hear that. But I think that we have a chemistry between us and he has an absolute Hall of Fame reputation.

RICHARD MANDELLA: Yes, it was. But it was good way to spend it. (Laughter.)

RICHARD MANDELLA: No, I never even thought to. I selfishly sat there praying for myself. (Laughter.) Is that who trained the other horse? I'm sorry. I don't know. (Laughter.) I was I never met him and I don't have to tell you all how much a trainer would admire somebody like him and what I read what he does. And I would have liked to have met him. And I hope I get to before it's all over. But, no, I didn't have a chance to go visit him.

RICHARD MANDELLA: Yes, I think that the racing industry in general was being irresponsible making the statement that this was not a great race you got a Kentucky Derby winner, Preakness, Travers Cup, a Hollywood Gold Cup winner, a Whitney winner and now a Breeders' Cup Classic winner. So you think about that. You never have all the horses you want in racing. You never will. They're animals, they're delicate. You got to only run them when they're well. You have to respect that people would try to do that. But I think it's a hell of a collection of horses, myself.

RICHARD MANDELLA: I think he's top notch. I said it all along. He's very good. He always wanted a mile and a quarter. In the United States you don't get many opportunities to do that. You have to go to Grade 1, which we all ought to rethink, I think. I think he has shown his class several times. How do you feel Alex today about your day? Today was a great day for you. How do you feel about it.

ALEX SOLIS: Right now I still don't believe the day that I had. All my horses ran incredible. I got first, fourth, second. And I won the last two races. So it was and I credible day. In the past I have some tough luck, but I always believed that God was saving the punch line for me.

RICHARD MANDELLA: Before we all leave the man that was asking those questions from upstairs, I would just like I thought I should thank him also. (Laughter.)

RICHARD MANDELLA: Gene. He passed away last year. He had fought with Alzheimers for quite a few years. But he was a great man that only worked and loved horses. He just worked to pay for the horses he had. Never made any money at it. Enough to make a decent living. All we ever did was work with horses and enjoyed it and had fun. I wish he was here to see this, but he got to see some other good days we had. I can only -- I can't tell you how much I appreciate how much he did for me and how much I loved him.

RICHARD MANDELLA: Yes.

RICHARD MANDELLA: Training her is more of a responsibility that you feared, you fear that you might get her beat. I remember I traveled years ago somewhere to run a horse and it won. And I was flying home that night and I was thinking, geez, why don't I get more fun out of this. Trust me, I get something or I wouldn't keep doing it. But I sat down and I wrote down something that I've kept. And it was the fear of losing is much greater than the thrill of winning. I can't remember just how I wrote it. But it was something like that. And when you train a horse like Halfbridled, you're not, it's not just a fun day and let's go give it a go and that. You're worrying how do I keep this from happening, how do I protect her here, how do I look for a roadblock. An and when you're done it's just relief. You're just grateful that it went well. The rest of the day they weren't favorites and that was a little more fun. I didn't feel like the world was going to come apart if I didn't win. So there was great pleasure in the rest of the day.

RICHARD MANDELLA: Left shoulder.

RICHARD MANDELLA: That's the best way to do it. It keeps you working. (Laughter.) No, let me tell you, Mr. Ford came to me seven eight, nine years ago. Nine years ago.

JERRY FORD: Nine years ago.

RICHARD MANDELLA: And he had met me and he had never had a horse race horse. And he told me to take some money and do whatever I wanted with it. And I had never had anybody tell me that before or after. And I didn't have time to run. With the money. So I had to spend it on horses. He stood back and he let me just do anything I wanted. We bought this horse for 725 thousand dollars. As a yearling. And that's a lot of money for a yearling. And it was that kind of confidence that got us here today.

JERRY FORD: It wasn't the Breeders' Cup. We had some common friends that I knew outside in business that recommended Dick. And I talked to some other people and he and I seemed to have the right chemistry then and it has been with us.