BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

October 29, 2005

Jerry Bailey

Richard Dutrow

William Warren

RICHARD E. DUTROW: Well, I'll tell you, they sure are. Couldn't be happier. The horse showed up the right way. What more can I ask for?

RICHARD E. DUTROW: No, I knew Saint Liam could get the leaders. I was happy with our post because Saint Liam wants to be outside. Couple of times he's been on the inside, Ghostzapper got out every step, Oak Lawn Park when he went against Peaceful he was inside, he was getting out all the time. He wants to be outside. I was the only person in our camp that was happy with our draw.

RICHARD E. DUTROW: That wasn't even a thought he would get a mile and a quarter at Belmont, wasn't a concern or thought in any kind of way.

WILLIAM WARREN: Yes, sir. This is his last race and he's going to go to stud at Lane's End.

WILLIAM WARREN: I hope so.

JERRY BAILEY: Thanks, Eric.

JERRY BAILEY: When he broke, he broke to the right. He broke out and continued that way for three or four jumps until I could reel him in. When a horse does something a little out of the ordinary breaking, the last thing you want to do is jerk him quick because he has a tendency to stir him up, get him going. I didn't want to start the engine too soon, knowing I had a mile and a quarter to go. I was breaking well, saving ground. He was actually losing ground, thus, he ended up further back than what people might normally expect.

RICHARD E. DUTROW: Well, I was lucky enough to have the right kind of horses at the right kind of time. They come around, one's a spriner, one wants to go long. They both love this track. I'm very lucky to be in this position. It's not anything that I was planning a year ago or anything like that. It's just that it happened, it was there, the timing was good. It was all good.

JERRY BAILEY: Not really, you know, knowing there was a mile and a quarter. I don't think you can expect those same kind of explosions that the horses give you. It's more of a long, grueling type of racing. Flower Alley is a good horse, and you can't dismiss him. I really felt confident the moment I turned up the backside, I felt confident, at least I knew I had the horses in front of me. I felt pretty strongly. I know Borrego comes with a strong run, but I was actually pretty confident all around.

RICHARD E. DUTROW: Well, I run a race again in 45 days. Anybody wants to come try us, we're ready. Yeah, we have the best horse around. Anybody left standing, they were here today and we beat them and throughout the year, Saint Liam, he's won everywhere, he's faced the defendant toughest they got. We didn't duck any kind of horse in any race. We went after them. That's because I've always felt he was the best horse. I felt he was the best horse when he run against Ghostzapper. Just so much confidence in him. When Saint Liam runs his race, I don't think anybody can beat him. I'm supposed to be saying that they pay me a lot of money to do that.

WILLIAM WARREN: Let me say, I think Afleet Alex and Hard Rock Ten were not in the race. I wish they had been. We were looking forward to facing Hard Rock Ten here on the east coast after the mistake we made in going to the west coast.

WILLIAM WARREN: By all means.

JERRY BAILEY: You shouldn't dismiss the fact that the post this horse had breaking out, he took way the worse of it today and still was very authoritative in winning.

RICHARD E. DUTROW: I was with Michelle, my girlfriend, Molly, my daughter at Saratoga at our house. I was freaking out I was going -- like I do he every time when he wins, I get so excited.

RICHARD E. DUTROW: I watched it on TV. I was there.

RICHARD E. DUTROW: That was never a concern, because the Warrens always guarantee me when I got down with my suspension I was going to be back on training. He never left my barn. The only time he left my barn was when he went to Churchill to run. So, the Warrens have been unbelievable about trusting me with the horse, especially when I was on my suspension. But I have such good help, it's been around me forever and they've been around this horse, and they were confident with us. And I was confident in my help. Everything was very good.

WILLIAM WARREN: I anguished over that decision but Jerry had ridden for me before. He had ridden another horse with Bobby Frankel trains. I felt like I had to go where my heart and mind sent to, and that was the great confidence I have in Jerry Bailey, and I felt like I had to do the right thing for the horse.

RICHARD E. DUTROW: Not in racing. I didn't mean that to be funny, but not in racing. No, there's not a whole lot of trainers that ever have a day like this.

JERRY BAILEY: I've been doing it a long time and I've had days like this. You know, I can go back to '93 I was striking out every race. Just because you think they're going to run good and they might run well, but there's other horses that run better. I got down to Arcangues who was 99 to one, and he pulled me through. I certainly wasn't looking at 99 to one on this horse. I didn't have my bottom lip dragging walking in the paddock. I had confidence this horse would really pull me out.

RICHARD E. DUTROW: No, I just have fun training horses. I love it. I have a passion for it. Everybody seen me today when I win, I go off. I love the feeling that you get when you win, and that takes over anything that is possible in this game.

RICHARD E. DUTROW: If he wants to run against us in 45 days, we're ready.

WILLIAM WARREN: Afleet Alex is a three-year-old. We're a five-year-old. We have the maturity. I think we would win.

RICHARD E. DUTROW: My confidence was in my horse. He showed me all signs for the last month that he was just setting -- actually, two days after he ran in that last race, he was mad. He's been mad since. He wanted to go out there. So that's where my confidence was.

RICHARD E. DUTROW: Well, actually, I didn't have any horses and I was living in the barn Aqueduct, Barn One, because I couldn't afford a place to stay. I hustled up a horse from my very first client. He is still with us today. And I got another horse. And I just got another horse, other clients. It was -- I don't look back on that, but I'll tell you what, if I had to go back there again, I would do the same thing because of the passion I have for this game. You can't keep me out.

WILLIAM WARREN: Whatever. Could I tell you something? I want to tell you what this race meant to me. I named Saint Liam after my father. My father had to drop out of school in the eighth grade to take care of his mother and his two sisters. And he raised himself up from his boot straps. So I idolize my father. And I prayed today, because I have six older sisters, and that's a bit unusual, and my dad kept trying until I came along. So I prayed today that I would be a worthy son. And I want to say something else about Afleet Alex. I admire the owners of that horse very, very much, because of what they do for charity. And just to let you know the facts, I've negotiated reading rights with Lanea's End and 50 percent of those are going to go to the charity in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

WILLIAM WARREN: It will be the Saint Francis Health System, 7,000 employees, five hospitals and a clinic of 85 doctors.

JERRY BAILEY: No, I've always thought that one horse wouldn't make my mind up one way or the other, and treat it this year like I have the past several, finish, which is traditionally Thanksgiving weekend, take time off with my family. Decide if I want to do another year. It's wonderful to do these kind of races. I have a family, I miss a lot. I'm on the road a lot. There's a lot to be weighed out.

WILLIAM WARREN: No, there's not.

WILLIAM WARREN: My father's name was William Kelly Warren. So I took the last four initials L-I-A-M, which also means Bill in Galic Irish. He was born in Nashville, Tennessee and he worked about three or four jobs one time, and one of them was a newspaper route to a hospital, and he met a lady there who told him to go west and get in the oil business. And he went there and made a very great success of a company that became the leading marketer of propane and butane in the world.

JERRY BAILEY: We could have used a little propane last week in Florida, I tell you that.

RICHARD E. DUTROW: Well, the horses keep me hopeful. I guess it was about eight years ago, I guess, I really can't remember, but it was a bad scene. I didn't have any horses my girlfriend who had my daughter, she had been murdered upstate. All at the same time, my dad was going back to Maryland, he developed cancer. I was sitting in a real bad spot, but you know what, I knew that I could train horses and I knew I could make it here in New York. I knew if I left, I would be a failure, and I just cannot fail around a racehorse. So I stayed and I made it. If I could do it, a lot of people could do it.