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BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

October 24, 2008

Bobby Frankel

ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA

ERIC WING: We're live in the interview room with the winning trainer of the first Breeders' Cup event today, Bobby Frankel.
Bobby, congratulations. Breeders' Cup win number 6 in your illustrious career. Have you ever had one to your memory, anyway, that was as devastating in victory as this one?
BOBBY FRANKEL: Well, she showed a great turn afoot, that's for sure. It was an exciting race. And, you know, I was waiting for her to do it, but you never know until they do it if they're going to do it, and she did it.
ERIC WING: Now a filly like Ventura gives you some nice problems in terms of what her best game is. She's a terrific miler on grass. She obviously likes synthetic just fine. Do you know whether or not she'll race next year? And if so, what you might do with her with all those options?
BOBBY FRANKEL: Well, I'll have to speak to them, you know. If she had gotten beat today, I'm pretty sure she'd have raced next year, but we'll have to speak to the team and see what they want to do.

Q. Garret Gomez obviously riding the next race. But what did he tell you when he got off her back?
BOBBY FRANKEL: He told me he was sitting on her, and they were a long way in front of him. But he didn't want to ask her and run into a fast pace like that. He waited for her. Just give her a little niggle. And when she gave it to him, that's when he went on with her.

Q. Ventura broke 120, 119 in four fits, tied the track record. What are your thoughts about the track surface and how it looks to you so far?
BOBBY FRANKEL: It looks great right now, to be honest with you (smiling). But if I had gotten beat, it might not have looked so good.

Q. Since coming from England, this filly has been lovely. She's done so well for you. Can you tell us a little bit about how she got to your barn?
BOBBY FRANKEL: Well, you know, I train for Juddmonte Farms and she was a Juddmonte filly. They had her in the sale last year at Newmarket, I think it was. But she won a listed stake, so they decided to send her over, which was a blessing for me, and a blessing for everybody.

Q. And you beat Indian blessing?
BOBBY FRANKEL: And we beat Indian blessing, right, good. I didn't even plan that one.
ERIC WING: Can you discuss the competition she faced at Woodbine against males in the Woodbine Mile and how that might have positively impacted her performance today?
BOBBY FRANKEL: The thing about it, she came off a mile on soft ground, which I don't think was her best. I thought maybe if she had gotten firm ground up there, she might have won. But she ran a great race, and probably gave her the stamina to run as fast as she could today.

Q. Did you ever consider running her (inaudible), was that because she's running the mile tomorrow?
BOBBY FRANKEL: I thought this was the best race for her. It looked like it was going to set up for her with all the speed. And, obviously I thought about it, but not for very long. This was basically a race we were planning on.

Q. I didn't see it, but I heard the announcer say she broke awkwardly?
BOBBY FRANKEL: I didn't see it either. She usually breaks really, really sharp. So maybe she took a little sidestep or something.
But I wasn't worried about it, because Garret was going to get it back there anyway, and try to save some ground with her. Even if she broke sharp, she was going to take her back a little bit, you know, so she made a devastating run around the turn, which was unbelievable. I just was hoping that she sustained it.

Q. Why might her success today have hurt the chances that she could return next year?
BOBBY FRANKEL: Well, any time you win a Breeders' Cup race, or a great one, and we train for Breeders', I got a feeling she'll stay in training, but I don't know for sure.

Q. She's obviously a very accomplished miler. The way she won today, so strong at the end, passing the others almost as if they were standing still, does it tempt you a little bit to see what she'd be like going around two turns on either surface?
BOBBY FRANKEL: Yeah, she's a really good filly. I mean, she's one horse that when she came over from England, she adapted so quickly and she turned around so fast that, you know, I think she can do anything.
But I think a mile would be her optimum distance, you know, her maximum distance.

Q. Providing she's not going to be bred next year, would the plan be to keep her at Santa Anita?
BOBBY FRANKEL: Definitely, yeah.
ERIC WING: Great start to the day. Good luck to you in the rest of the Breeders' Cup races today and tomorrow, and congratulations on a terrific performance by Ventura.

End of FastScripts

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