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BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

October 24, 2008

ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA

ERIC WING: We have the winning trainer and jockey of Stardom Bound. The very impressive winner of the Breeders' Cup juvenile fillies. On the left, of course, Mike Smith, and on the right Christopher Paasch. We're going to direct our questions first to Mike, who isn't riding in the filly and mare turf, but he does need to get back to the room to prepare for his ride aboard Zenyatta in the ladies' classic.
Mike, I know you call her -- speaking of Zenyatta, she's your baby Zenyatta, we've heard. This race pretty much in character with all of her other devastating performances.
MIKE SMITH: Yeah, she's our Baby Z. That's what Chris named her first off. I said Baby Zenyatta, and he said Baby Z. And we've been going for that. It's an incredible performance. I'm at a loss for words. I'd like to tell you I did a whole lot. The main thing I did was staying on even when we got pinched and went to pull the trigger. It was a little early, but it was planned. I felt the horses inside were getting through and they were going to work their way out. If I didn't move at that point, I felt like I was going to have to get hung three or four even wider than I was.
So I pulled it a little early - only for the main fact that I knew she was capable of it, she could handle it, and she did.

Q. It was an honest pace, but not necessarily a brilliantly fast pace. But with a filly like Stardom Bound, do you just let her do her thing and not worry about what's going on up front?
MIKE SMITH: It really was. I knew it was slow early, because I could have been wherever I wanted to. If I had moved on the back side, she would have jumped up between three or four of them.
So I knew it was slow, but she was in that rhythm, she was breathing, and I knew when I called on her, she was going to jump through the bridle, and she did. And the only thing I had to do at the end was stay busy. She's never hit the front quite that soon. She got to looking around a little. I stayed busy.
My hat's off to Christopher Paasch and his whole crew. They've done a tremendous job with this horse. From day one, he told me this filly was that good.
ERIC WING: Thank you, Mike.
Christopher Paasch, congratulations. As wonderful a day as this is for you, and the culmination of a great year with Stardom Bound. They broke her maiden in the Grade I stake, and gave a few frustrations early on when she didn't win and probably should have. It's got to be somewhat bittersweet because I know she's leaving your barn to be sold at Keeneland in November. Is this day bittersweet at all for you?
CHRISTOPHER PAASCH: It's absolutely not. I'm thrilled to know Charlie and Karen Cono, what they've done for me and my wife, Bonnie. You know, my short story is that, you know, we came back several years ago, and Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez gave us a chance with some good horses. Through them, we met Charlie and Karen Cono. And what a special day it is for me to walk down to that winner's circle this afternoon with Charlie and give him a hug and congratulate him. I'm sure that the kind of people that are going to take this filly are going to, you know, be able to take her and continue her career and make her into the kind of filly as an older filly that I'm sure she can be.
I have no heartache at all about it. It will be a little bit sad, but I'm thrilled to end it on a win like this. And let everyone know we've definitely got the best two-year-old filly in the country this year.

Q. Your emotions as you start to see her gear up around the far turn?
CHRISTOPHER PAASCH: First, when she broke, like Mike said, she got pinched, and I got concerned she might have gotten stepped on. We know as horses come together, they can get stepped on. After watching her run down the back side, I thought Mike might move a little earlier. We didn't talk about a strategy. When you have a great rider like Mike Smith, that's ridden a horse like this two or three times, you just kind of smile and say, Good luck, Mike.
There was no strategy. If we had any concern, I would have asked him to keep his eye on Sky Diva because that was the filly we were most concerned with. But when he took her out and started to move her, I felt like he moved her a little early, but he had to have a good reason for it. And I tell you what, when she got to about the half mile pole, and he got her out and really, I would imagine, chirped her a little bit to ask her to run, it's almost breathtaking to watch a horse like that. You can literally see the horse drop into their stride.
If you watch a lot of horses when they're just following that are big closers, they kind of almost look like they're not getting ahold of the track as they're going down the back side. When the rider asks them to level off and run, you can literally watch their back drop as they fall into stride.

Q. Mike said she never made the lead that early and got to looking around. Did that concern you at all?
CHRISTOPHER PAASCH: It did concern me. Because she is kind of a filly; she's a really smart filly. She looks at everything a lot. She's not afraid to go do it. But she wants to look at it a second before she goes and does it. For her to get the lead that early, I saw her ears come right up and her head come up a little bit. I'm sure she's probably watching the Jumbotron, or all the fans on the inside and all the hoopla around her. You just hope, like Mike did, he kept her busy so she wouldn't think about doing something silly.

Q. She's a tall filly, and she looks like from two to three, she's really going to fill out. Having this turn afoot now, what do you think of the horse she could become?
CHRISTOPHER PAASCH: I'm imagining she's going to get a lot taller. But I can't wait to see this filly in the spring of her 2-year-old career. If we would keep her, she'd be off the rest of the winter, and that would be my home with her, is that somebody would give her some time now. She's had five grueling races. Three Grade I's in a row. I will hope that we get invited to see her run the first time. I can't imagine what a beautiful 3-year-old filly she'll be in the spring.

Q. If you had her next year would you consider running her in the Kentucky Derby? Do you think she's that tight?
CHRISTOPHER PAASCH: I'm one of those people that I don't believe in running fillies against colts at 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6. Fillies, I believe, belong against fillies. There have been some great trainers that have done that with their fillies. Evidently they felt that was the right thing to do, and there's been a great outcome.
My personal feeling is I'd keep her in the filly division and let the colts have the colts.

Q. What did you see in her at the two-year-old sale in March?
CHRISTOPHER PAASCH: I would say her stride. When a rider can sit on a horse and never move on them and go 33-and-change breezing at her second work of her lifetime, it's an amazing stride for a filly.

Q. Is there any scenario where if somebody did buy her and came with you and said, Would you like to go on with her for a next year, would you consider it?
CHRISTOPHER PAASCH: I would consider anything. At this point, my plans are to go through with what we're going to do with Charlie and Karen. I guess I'll answer that question if it should happen.

Q. Based on what we saw today, he has the engine of a motor racing car. She accelerated so well. You take a look at her, she always likes coming from behind. Do you think she can be placed up front early and she can be equally effective?
CHRISTOPHER PAASCH: I think she's a smart enough horse that you can put her anywhere. I just can't imagine taking this filly out of her element. Her element is to sit back, relax, and make one move.
I will say, that I do think this filly will convert wonderfully to the turf. With that turn afoot, I would say the turf races in the East Coast in the spring would be something that we'd look forward to as well if the new owners wanted to.

Q. When is she going into the sale, and is this possibly the last horse you'll ever saddle?
CHRISTOPHER PAASCH: No, we're going to continue on. Like I said, we've got several 2-year-olds for Mr. Cono that had to go to the farm. They were a little sore and/or we just decided to bring back in the fall.
We'll probably end up running into the spring of next year with Mr. and Mrs. Cono. She leaves for the sale next week. We do have another filly, Foxy Danseur on Sunday in the Cascapedia Stakes, who will also be in the stakes.

Q. The sale's next Saturday?
CHRISTOPHER PAASCH: Yes.

Q. What are the extended plans for retiring? If you went through with your plan, what would be your last day of training?
CHRISTOPHER PAASCH: I have no plans right now on an exact date. Do I have some horses for Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez who, actually, again, like I said, gave us our start with some good horses. My wife, Bonnie, and I, have talked about it. Of course, we'll consult with Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez first, and again with Mr. and Mrs. Cono.
ERIC WING: All right. Christopher Paasch, great day, great performance by Stardom Bound. Without question, we saw a great champion crowned today. Congratulations on such a great job with her.
CHRISTOPHER PAASCH: Thank you so much.

End of FastScripts

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