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BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

October 24, 2008

ARCADIA, CALIFORNIA

ERIC WING: We're joined by the winning jockey and trainer of Forever Together, who just captured the $2 million Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf.
It's hard to believe, Jonathan, this is actually your first Breeders' Cup victory. But it is. You've had some close calls in the past, and I believe it was -- there was something of a distance question with this horse on paper. She'd never been this far. I think it was Dave Litfin, in The Racing Form, who said, "When is the last time a Jonathan Sheppard horse ever came up short in the lane," and I guess she had plenty of bottom today to get the job done at ten furlong.
JONATHAN SHEPPARD: I wasn't overly concerned with that. She ranks well, you know. She relaxes early. And I got a lot of confidence in him, and I thought with the firmer ground today and the tighter turns, that a little bit of extra distance would have been perfect.
ERIC WING: Julien, terrific ride. In races like that, the ride means so much, especially in grass racing, it seems. It looked on the far turn that you were starting to ask her, and maybe the response wasn't instantaneous. Is that accurate? It seemed like in the end, though, she just wore everybody down.
JULIEN LEPAROUX: No, actually, she when I asked her, she actually kicked. But the thing is, I gave her time to move, too, and it really put me very, very wide. I was already wide. So I just kind of waited, and went for it, and.
JONATHAN SHEPPARD: I'm glad you asked that question, because I was wondering myself.

Q. Maybe it's an optical illusion, because the other horse was hitting her stride at the same time?
JULIEN LEPAROUX: Yeah, she was stuck at the same time, but she was in front of us, so it looked like she was going easier than us. But actually, we had to just wait a little bit more to get our kick.
ERIC WING: On TV, it looked like she was coming, coming, coming, but the victory didn't look safe until maybe the last few jumps. Is that the way it felt on her back as well?
JULIEN LEPAROUX: Yeah, I mean, it's every filly is very good. So it was not like where you can go away from everybody. These are very tough races. She fight all the way, and she was the best today.
ERIC WING: Now we are joined by George Strawbridge, the owner of Augustin Stable.
George, congratulations. The second Breeders' Cup win of your career. You had Tikkanen at Churchill Downs with Jonathan Pease. This is a really interesting horse, Forever Together. She started out as a main track horse, and a sprinter at that. Here she is as the winner of the Filly and Mare Turf. Can you comment on the ups and downs that you've had? Mainly ups, but the progress she's made from being a sprinter on the main track to now, a turf-distance filly?
GEORGE STRAWBRIDGE: Well, naturally I accuse Jonathan Sheppard of forcing the turn on this filly. Because 90% of the horses I end up having are turf horses, and Jonathan naturally blames my breeding program on it. But I was rather blaming him on it.
So I don't know who is really to blame. But at any rate, absolutely delighted, because she is a star on the turf. I'm not so sure she'd have been a star on the dirt for whatever reason, I guess. It belonged to me, which is Danzig, and that is turf, turf, turf, just ask the Collmore people.

Q. Can you comment on the rarity of a filly who can look so impressive the way she did in the First Lady, winning a Grade I at a flat mile, blowing by a horse like Precious Kitten, who will be well fancied in the mile tomorrow. And then being able to deliver the same quality performance in a ten furlong race? Do those horses come along very often?
JONATHAN SHEPPARD: I don't recall having had one (laughing). Not to be facetious. I think it's -- I think a really good horse probably can be a little versatile in that regard, particularly if they're tractable and will follow their rider's instructions, which is what she does really well, certainly for Julien. He relaxes them, and she'll make a move when she's asked.

Q. Can you talk about her talent? She's a great two-winner on dirt. She's run really well on the poly track, and she's obviously a champion on turf?
JONATHAN SHEPPARD: I mean, she did look like a very, very good horse when we first started running this on her three-year-old year. She lost her weight a little, we tried to stretch her out and run her long. I think she was having some physical problems. We kind of gave her time off and tried to regroup. We did that down in Miami when it was very hot. I think she was not comfortable. She had a non-sweating problem. She just got real sour, and didn't want to train very much, didn't want to run very much.
So we thought, We're going to try something different here. Plus I always love the grass anyway. When we taught her to relax and come from behind horses, she didn't like running into the dirt. When we first raced it, she used to stay pretty close because she didn't want to get dirt in her face. So I thought if she doesn't like the dirt, we'll try the turf, but you don't get the same kickback. She's been going from one step to another since then.

Q. Is she going to continue to race next year?
Also, Mr. Shepherd, what will Forever Together's future hold for 2009 as a possible racer?
And also, Jonathan, where does this race victory stack up in your illustrious career?
JONATHAN SHEPPARD: I'll answer my part of that question. Certainly it's incredibly meaningful to me. I'd like to think that a good trainer is a good trainer regardless of what particular discipline.
But I hadn't run a really major championship-type race like this before. We were second with Storm Cat 24 years ago today, by a nose, and with Anticipation, had second. But it does mean a lot to have this on my resume. I'm very happy and humbled by it.
Regarding her racing next year, I'll leave that to Mr. Strawbridge.
GEORGE STRAWBRIDGE: Yes, I would think if she's physically well, which she looks very physically well to me today, she will run as a 5-year-old, because she is so good, and I would like to keep her racing at least for one more year. I don't really particularly believe in running them as a six-year-old the way we did with I owned Waya in a partnership with Peter Brant. I'm afraid we were running her maybe a bit too long, and she ended up not really producing anything next to her caliber.
So I think, yes, for a five-year-old career, if she's physically able, we definitely will.

Q. Is there anything you do special? As you mentioned, she's a non-sweater, and how big of a concern was the warmer weather today?
JONATHAN SHEPPARD: She ran in the Just Again Stake in Belmont when it was like 95 or something that day. We shipped her up in the cool over the night, we were in a nice shady stall in a holding barn with fans. She actually handled it better than I expected.
So my conclusion is that as long as she's not subjected to it for a long period of time, she can handle it. We brought her in as late as we did. She came in here on Wednesday, said she's been only exposed to it basically 48 hours.

Q. How did Jonathan wind up with this filly, and Graham Motion come to have Saucey Evening?
JONATHAN SHEPPARD: Mr. Strawbridge has a number of different trainers. You'd have to ask him why he picks one certain horse for one and one for another.
I have trained for, I believe, 42 years. He's been a wonderful friend and loyal owner, which you don't see a lot these days. We've had a lot of fun together. Whatever he decides to do with this horse or that horse, I'm going to be happy and thankful.
GEORGE STRAWBRIDGE: Well, there really is no explanation. Like most of this game, it's a matter of pot chance and luck. I don't know whether it's intuition or what, but that's, I think, probably Graham ended up with Saucey Evening because she looked to be very precocious. My time with Jonathan, I've known him not to be really well-known for producing 2-year-olds, and I thought Saucey would be a 2-year-old.
Of course this was very fast. We bought her, first horse I've ever bought at a 2-year-old training sale. I wasn't having very much luck with the yearlings. I said, Well, it's an older horse, being a two-year-old. So that's why I came to Jonathan.
As to loyalty for Jonathan, my God, he trained horses for me to ride. So that's -- you know, I'm eternally grateful for that. (Laughing).

Q. What has Julien brought to this equation? It looks like they've been a good fit together?
JONATHAN SHEPPARD: Absolutely, very, very important part of it. We had a -- he inherited the mount, as you can see in the paper in past performances, Ramon Dominguez rode her in the Just Again, and I asked him to ride her back, and he couldn't.
I tried to think of another rider that was good, you know, a patient rider, good going on the grass and with good hands, and someone that wasn't going to kind of man-handle the horse too much. Because this filly is a little quirky, and she likes to think she's getting things her own way.
I kind of took a shot with Julien. He had ridden a couple of horses before, but not a lot. I like his European background, and I used to see him riding out with Patrick Bianco at Saratoga before he rode his first race. And he always seemed to have a good demeanor with his horses.
Anyway, we took a shot, and here we are.

Q. Julien, do you think a horse like Forever Together, with her style, is the kind that kind of shows off your riding talents most dramatically?
JULIEN LEPAROUX: I guess. I don't know. The only thing is, in this horse racing, you know, is all about horses. The jockey, I try to be a passenger on her, and she just gives me everything every time I ride her. So she's a very nice filly, and I just thank Mr. Strawbridge, and Mr. Sheppard, too.

Q. I know you did not breed this horse, but you have bred a lot of good grass horses and good horses of all times. You talked about luck and chance being such a big factor in horse racing. Did you ever think a daughter of Belong to Me out of a Relaunch mare would bring you great success in the Breeders' Cup at ten furlongs?
GEORGE STRAWBRIDGE: No, to be honest, I didn't have a clue (laughing). But this is a game of chance, and it's a game of luck.
I've often heard it said, the trainers say, well, I'd rather be lucky than good, I think that's true.
ERIC WING: Julien Leparoux, Jonathan Sheppard, George Strawbridge, without question, you've sewn up the Filly and Mare Turf Championship today. Congratulations on an exciting race and a terrific performance.
GEORGE STRAWBRIDGE: Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts

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