136TH BELMONT STAKES

June 5, 2004

Stewart Elliott

STEWART ELLIOTT: My horse broke very sharp, you know. I just got hold of him, tried to get him to relax. A couple of horses come up on my inside, which kind of kept him on the bit a little bit more than I wanted him; had a little trouble getting him to settle. I figured, you know, if I could get into the backside and get a clear lead, maybe then he'd relax and then I had one on either side; kept, you know, he just never got a break, you know, and mile and a half just got to him. He never got a break the whole race.

STEWART ELLIOTT: What are you going to do? We were there. We thought it would be a good thing, but, you know, hey, that's the way it went.

STEWART ELLIOTT: I still thought I had a good shot. My horse was running when I peaked over and saw Birdstone coming, I said we might be in trouble here. That horse was coming pretty strong.

STEWART ELLIOTT: When I looked back and saw where he was and the way he was coming at me, yeah, I thought we were going to get beat.

STEWART ELLIOTT: It was amazing, just unbelievable the amount of people.

STEWART ELLIOTT: I'll remember everything. It's great just to be, you know, just to be here. It's just great.

STEWART ELLIOTT: Well, I don't know. That's kind of hard to say, you know. He broke very sharp and I got a hold of him and actually, you know, a couple horses come up on his inside and just kind of had him on the run.

STEWART ELLIOTT: He responded, like I say, you know, when we got into the backside, I thought maybe if he gets on the lead by himself, and he'll relax, which he might have, but, you know, I had a horse on the inside. Then a horse on the outside. A horse on the inside again. So he never got that chance. I had to just keep letting him out a little bit, you know, little bit at a time. And it just took its toll on him.

STEWART ELLIOTT: It's very hard to win. I mean, you have to have a horse, you know, you have to have a horse that's on, that can do just about anything. I think the hardest part is the mile and a half. I mean, it's a tough race.

STEWART ELLIOTT: We had a good run. I mean, it was great, you know, and the horse all along, I said, you know, if anything, if we get beat. I just hope you know that it's fair and square, and that's the way it went. So I have no complaints.

STEWART ELLIOTT: I'm sure. He's a tough horse, very good horse.

STEWART ELLIOTT: Like I said, before the race, you have to ride the race as the race comes up. You don't know what's going to happen. When I got into the backside, and I couldn't get him that break that I needed, I needed some way. I couldn't get him to settle and relax really well around the first turn. So I was planning on, you know, getting a nice, easy eight-quarter in somewhere and it just didn't happen.

STEWART ELLIOTT: He said he was sorry.

STEWART ELLIOTT: Yes.

STEWART ELLIOTT: I said, oh, what are you going to do? That's horse racing, you know.

STEWART ELLIOTT: Because I think, you know, I think just, you know, everybody wanted to see this horse win. And, you know, everybody has their job to do. It just didn't happen, but I think he probably just felt a little sad about it.

STEWART ELLIOTT: No, we just hung back a little bit. My horse was fine. It didn't affect him.

STEWART ELLIOTT: Geez, it's easy to say after the race you could do something different; no, you know, my horse broke great. I don't think I had really any choice. I could have maybe drug him back then I would have been fighting him more. That's horse racing. You do what you think is right at the time, and if it works, it works. If it doesn't, you can't go back and rerun the race.

STEWART ELLIOTT: Sure, it's a disappointment to come this close, but it shows you, horse racing winning isn't easy. That's why you have to appreciate it when you do.

STEWART ELLIOTT: The only thing maybe in the Kentucky Derby, it was his first time in between horses getting bounced around a little bit with the mud fresh on his face. This horse has always before that had been clear sailing on the lead or second on the outside. And when he gets out, there is kind of where he's used to be running. So in the Derby it was probably new to him. He was in between getting bounced a little bit. So, probably just being new, he, you know, wasn't as aggressive.