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BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPSNovember 4, 2006Lanfranco DettoriC. Wayne McIlwraithJ. Paul ReddamCHURCHILL DOWNS, KENTUCKY ERIC WING: We are back in the interview room. Before we get to the winning connections of Red Rocks, as you can see, we do have Dr. J. Wayne McIlwraith with an additional update. DR. C. WAYNE McIlwraith: Thank you. Regarding the injury on Fleet Indian, after being taken back to the barn and radiographed, there were no fractures. So the initial examination where they suspected a condylar fracture, what the horse does have is that injuries to both suspensory branches in the left front fetlock joint, which gives you a similar clinical signs. So there are no fractures. There is an injury to both suspensory branches, which is causing a little bit of dropping of the fetlock joint, but she'll be able to be treated effectively and be fine as a broodmare. At the moment, she's in a Kimsey splint, which stabilizes the fetlock joint, and then the degree of stabilization that will be -- it will only be external stabilization that will follow will depending on how she looks tomorrow morning. ERIC WING: Thank you very much, Dr. McIlwraith. Okay. We're back in the interview room. As mentioned earlier, Brian Meehan is busy saddling David Junior right now, so he will, we hope, join us later. J. Paul Reddam, the owner of Red Rocks, will be here in just a little bit, but we're happy to have Frankie Dettori, who is here to talk about win number two on the day with Red Rocks. Frankie, congratulations. FRANKIE DETTORI: Thank you. ERIC WING: Excellent performance by your horse, and he was well back today and he was well back last {time} out against SixtiesIcon. Prior to that, he was always kind of not on the lead, then tracking. Was this a conscious decision, some decision at some point, to change this horse's style? Because if so, it obviously paid a big dividend today. FRANKIE DETTORI: I rode him a few times and messed him up a few times. He's a good starter, but he seemed to idle a lot of times in front. So perhaps I went to sooner on a {couple} occasions with him. Today, you know, on the form we had a good outside chance, so I wanted to ride him cold so I could pick up the pieces at the end. Beyond my wildest dreams, I didn't expect a furious pace like it did go today, and when I looked up and I thought, well, there is no way they can keep this up and actually go all the way around, they were taking each other on and I knew after -- I knew it was going to fall in my lapse. You only take a race by going through the field, taking a chance of getting stopped. So I took him on the wide outside, and it was just a matter of picking horses one by one and -- but I forgot that Better Talk Now was behind me also playing the same game. Last furlong we had to get serious but the rest is history. ERIC WING: Were you ever concerned that Better Talk Now might pass you? FRANKIE DETTORI: I was quite scared but just trying to ride for my life and get him there first. ERIC WING: You described Red Rocks' chances on paper as that of a good outsider's {chance}. He was under you, he was two links behind the railing in the Grand Prix Paris and Rail Link, of course, went on to go on to take the Arc. Did that help? FRANKIE DETTORI: It did lift my spirit, and Brian and Paul Reddam very wisely decided not to get involved in the big races, freshen the horse up, and go their own way today. So, you know, I'm just excited and pleased that the deal worked out well. Q. You know the European horses a lot better than we Americans do. Even though you don't ride Hurricane Run, were you surprised that his performance today was somewhat lackluster? FRANKIE DETTORI: In the parade he was extremely boisterous and jumping and squealing and, you know, sign that perhaps his mind was not on the job. That was a concern. But, you know, you have to give him respect because he's still a very good horse, and actually one point in the race just before the old turn he was traveling extremely well. I thought it was going to be between me and him. ERIC WING: J. Paul Reddam, the owner of Red Rocks, joins us on the podium with Frankie. This is Mr. Reddam's second Breeders' Cup winner as an owner, the other being of course two years ago in Dallas with Wilko. Mr. Reddam, congratulations, and first can you comment on the decision to bring him over here for the Breeders' Cup. And you're an American, but he wound up taking home the glory on the European front this afternoon. J. PAUL REDDAM: Well, the trainer, Brian Meehan, has been very high on this horse all year. He talked about maybe running him in the Champions Stakes, the Arc, et cetera, and then he did run him in the Saint Leger{.} He wasn't sure whether he should do that. Little {bit} too far. He said, you know, forget about the Arc. He needs a little break anyway. We'll bring him over to the British Cup turf. He thought I would like that, and I did. ERIC WING: And he was coming over anyway with David Junior. Questions from either down here or in the pressbox? J. PAUL REDDAM: I would take that back. He was going to come over whether David Junior came or not. ERIC WING: Okay. You can ask upstairs if you wish through Lara, and we have some questions down here. Q. Frankie, where does this day rank for you among your past Breeders' Cups? FRANKIE DETTORI: I'll be honest with you, you know, to win one is a miracle and two goes beyond that. You know, I knew Ouija Board was my best chance to win, and I hoped if I am lucky, but I didn't think I was this lucky. So, I'll be honest with you, I don't really feel -- it feels very surreal right now. I've not had the chance to sit down and take it all in yet. I'm sure tomorrow when I wake up in Australia and that really will hit me then it's been a fabulous day. Especially Paul gave me the opportunity with Wilko, and once again we are here today and it's been a good supporter of mine. So he makes extra special when you win races for good owners and also friends. So, you know, it's been special day. ERIC WING: Do you think when it finally does sink in, you might feel a little extra measure of gratification, having had your -- such a great Breeders' Cup here and in Kentucky? FRANKIE DETTORI: Yeah. I mean, you know, I was a little bit cold feet when I arrived on Friday, tried to forget the 1990s, or 1998. But, you know, we all make mistakes, move on and I've been very lucky, tremendous support from everybody, the crowd. Even some people make funny remarks, but all been pretty much good humor. It's been welcomed and been a fabulous day for me. Q. Frankie, I saw you get beat by Papal Bull at Royal Ascot. It looked like you had the race in safekeeping. As "Keelend" kept coming, you talked a minute ago about Red Rocks link on the front. He doesn't focus on-the-job. When you made the four and five wide moving in the final turn and it looked like you were going to win and you win the front, did you have a fear you had moved a little too soon in the second part? Do you think he's a legitimate Group 1 horse? FRANKIE DETTORI: Well, his form is second to none. Perhaps I was be more forceful early on in his career, and we were just get to go know each other. You know, you ride horses as you feel, and today when I made my move and he wanted to go, we went together. So, you just have to go with your own instinct. You know, you can analyze it which way you want, but at the end of the day, the result is on the board and the check is on the plane. Excuse me. I must leave before the Classic. I've got to go to Australia. So can I go from -- ERIC WING: Frankie, one quick question before you go. You're a regular rider for the Maktoum family. Were you approached at all after Javier Castallano's injury about your availability if necessary in the Classic? FRANKIE DETTORI: No, but I saw Javier. He was talk walking so -- Paul asked me the same question in the paddock. I thought if I was Javier, even if I had a broken leg, I would ride Bernardini. I'm pleased he's fine and wish him all the best. ERIC WING: Thank you for joining us. Congratulations on a terrific day. Anything further for Mr. Reddam? If you'll stay with us for a moment. Q. Mr. Reddam, will you just talk about what you thought your chances were with this horse today? I know you had a lot of hope in June with Great Hunter. Where did this horse rank in your thoughts of how this day might play out? J. PAUL REDDAM: Well, as I said, we've been high on this horse for quite awhile. I thought that maybe a couple of the European horses weren't coming over with their best. Hurricane Run had a couple of very hard races. Scorpian only had the one race. I wasn't quite sure how the American form was going to stack up to the European form, but the last month or so, all I've been hearing is how good Red Rocks was doing. In the case of two horses we ran in the Juvenile Fillies and Juvenile, Great Hunter, he got beat by a better horse on the day. The filly Cash Included was flat. She's copious and mucous. Hopefully, {we'll} clear that up, and I'm hoping we saw the real her in the Oakley, not today. Q. I was wondering what in terms of what you saw, what your agent saw, that you were interested in. Red Rocks is still a maiden, and as he progressed this year, what race really stood out to you and Brian as indicating that he was ready for this type of competition that he had progressed from when you bought him? J. PAUL REDDAM: Well, Red Rocks was selected by Jamie McCalmont, who also selected Wilko. We bought him after his third start where he lost his third attempt as a maiden and Jamie's view of the horse and what we discussed was he was very backwards at the time and Galileo being a first year stallion, we thought he had potential but Galileo has shown the best stuff until they were three years old. We've seen a couple exceptions with that in the two year old crop in Europe this year. So, we didn't pay a tremendous {amount} of money for him. We hoped he would develop, but certainly when we bought the horse, we didn't realistically think, "Oh, well, next year we'll be sitting here competing in the Breeders' Cup turf." So, all the credit there goes to Jamie and certainly to Brian Meehan, who was the original trainer on the horse. We kept the horse with Brian because we actually had another horse with him, and he's Cash Included today. It's too bad he had David Junior in here so couldn't be up here. He's a fantastic guy. Obviously did a great job and when the horse ran this year at Windsor, which was his first start, he opened up by a tremendous amount and then he just kind of lollygagged and won by about 3 or so. We knew he had the ability and Frankie was so confident with him every time he would go to the lead and then the horse goofs off on the lead and he got beat a couple times, but he certainly showed the talent racing against Rail Link in the Grande Prix de Paris. He got beat on the {end}. That we had to do the right thing by him and give him a little time and here we are. Q. Could you talk about next year if for this colt, what your plans are? J. PAUL REDDAM: He's going to go back to Europe. He will get a rest and the goal will be one of the Dubai grass races. Certainly Brian has the experience this year with David Junior coming from the long layoff of the Champions Stakes, which I think around the end of September, beginning of October, and got David Junior ready that way, and he has been saying all along that this horse would be better as a four year old than as a three year old. So, of course, that is quite exciting in light of today's events. Q. Great Hunter, you don't have to worry about the juvenile jinx. What would his campaign be like coming back to Churchill Downs if he comes back for the Kentucky Derby? J. PAUL REDDAM: That's what I {kind} of tried to tell myself as a silver lining. When he got blown away by Street Sense today. Since he's a Group 1 winner and know he's got a spot in the Derby if he's right for it. I'll have to talk it over with Todd, but I would think we would just look at the behavior and work backwards{.} Probably skip the Hollywood Furturity, et cetera, and plan two, three races before the derby. There isn't any reason why he shouldn't like the mile and a quarter heat. The horse is still maturing. We have great hopes for him. Q. How many times have you seen Red Rocks run in person? Is this the first time? J. PAUL REDDAM: No. I saw him at Ascot with the race that the gentleman talked about earlier where he had the lead, he looked like he was going to win easily in the King Edward Stakes. He got lazy on the end of it. Papal Bull beat him. That's a Group 2. That was in June, and subsequent to that, I've only been able to see his races on the computer, which is not a good way to see a race. ERIC WING: Anything else for Mr. Reddam? With the winner's share of the 3 million-dollar purse you certainly won't need to visit the cash call machines. J. PAUL REDDAM: Thank you very much. End of FastScripts |
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