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135TH KENTUCKY DERBYMay 2, 2009Mark AllenLeonard BlachCalvin BorelBennie Wooley, Jr.CHURCHILL DOWNS, KENTUCKY THE MODERATOR: We welcome the winning connections from Kentucky Derby 135. The man in the cowboy hat with the crutches, Chip Woolley, I'm sure you know by now is the trainer. And next to him is Mark Allen of Double Eagle Ranch, and as you look to the right is Leonard Blach of Bueno Suerte Equine. Congratulations, gentlemen, on winning the Run for the Roses. I'm not exactly sure where to start here, so we'll start with Chip. Looking at the race and how it was run, were you more surprised by the victory or where he came from; looking at the form he had been fairly close and you find yourself dead last in this race and you come up and you win it. BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: Actually, Mark and Doc and I had discussed it and we had planned to be eight to 10 from the lead and when he got run over leaving there, shuffled him to dead last, he come by the grandstands and Calvin just did a super job of being patient and not hurrying. It's what I've always told everybody this horse needed was to lay back there and make one short run, and it worked out super. Calvin did a super job, and I just can't say enough about the way things went for us. Usually when you start out a race in trouble, it never gets any better, and once we got settled back to last, Calvin picked a spot and just everything fell together. We were really lucky to get through there. So that's about the sum of it. THE MODERATOR: You're the second horse to come through New Mexico and win the Kentucky Derby, Real Quiet did back in 1998. Talk about bringing this horse to Louisville. You raced in Canada, but the decision to come here and what your hopes were as you came in. BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: To be honest, I didn't have any real feeling that I could win the Derby. We wanted to be competitive. We knew we would be more competitive than everybody gave us credit for, and then with my crutches and everything else, but this was about a horse race. I can't say enough about Doc and Mark, they purchased this horse for 400,000, and we made a plan to stick with Sunland Park. They have got a great program. We went there, we didn't win either one of them, just like real quiet in New Mexico and kicked their butt and came here and win. Can't say enough to be thankful for them; and also my assistant trainer after I had my wreck, he did a great job for me of taking care of these horses. He's really the one that got the horse through the two races at Sunland till I got back on my feet, and I really appreciate that. THE MODERATOR: Go to the others now, Leonard Blach, let's start with you and your thoughts on first of all winning this race, the dream of so many people and in this race, people around the world participating in this race and you got it done here in a big way. DR. LEONARD BLACH: Yeah, that was certainly a dream all right. I'm sure everybody in here, it's probably their dream to do that. Mark and I became partners on this horse a little over a year ago when we bought him, and we went to the Breeders' Cup and to Sunland. I really thought this horse had a lot of talent. We just were not able to see it all yet. And today, made my heart sink a little bit when he came by there and he was last, but I was really glad to see him that far in front when he came around the second time (Laughter). So we have a lot of fun with him. Mark and I have been friends for years. We do a lot of business together, racing business and breeding business in New Mexico. We're proud of the horse, he's Kentucky bred, y'all are proud of that, and we need those, as well. We thrive off of Kentucky-breds, your stallions and Brood Mares and everything. We are very proud of this horse. Just shows what can be done with two buddies who have fun together and like to go to the races; and dream a little bit and your dreams will come true. THE MODERATOR: Mark, how about your take on this and achieving the dream? MARK ALLEN: You know, the way he trained and the way he handled this surface, I was pretty confident the horse would do all right. We've done a good job with this horse. THE MODERATOR: What were you feeling as he went past you last on the first run down? MARK ALLEN: Well, I wasn't that worried about it, I really wasn't. I knew Calvin Borel was on him and he's a patient rider. When he started -- I seen him starting to move on the back side, and when he got that rail, I thought that we would be all right. THE MODERATOR: How did you end up with Calvin on the horse? MARK ALLEN: Just lucky. And he said he liked this horse. Anyone that said he liked the horse and wanted to ride him, pretty much can ride him. THE MODERATOR: As a historical note, he is the second Sovereign Award winner of the two-year-old champions from Canada to win the race. Talk about how this course came into your hands. He was Canadian two-year-old champ last year. Talk about how you found this horse and how he came to you and how you made the deal. MARK ALLEN: Stuart Angus of Taylor Made and Keith Kruger (ph) at Whispering Oaks, they are the ones that found the horse and told me about him. I sent Chip up there to take a look at him and Chip liked him. We were looking for a nice two-year-old. Q. What is your assistant trainer's name? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: Bill Woolley. He's my older brother. Q. Could you describe your trip from New Mexico to Kentucky, what kind of van were you in and did you stop along way and how long it took? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: Well, they make out that we hauled this horse in a '67 GMC with stock grass, but actually we got a super nice Van, it's a Turnbull trailer. It's a super nice rig. We layed over at Lone Star. We was in no hurry to get here, plenty of time. It was just an easy trip really. There's been a lot made of that and maybe now they will start talking about something else. (Laughter). Q. Mark, you had talked about how you started cleaning stalls when you were 12 years old, and then just your relationship with Chip and the journey and now the culmination of a lifetime in horse racing. MARK ALLEN: Well, I started at the bush tracks cleaning stalls for my cousin and I met Chip in Raton about 25 years ago, and I had a few other trainers. My cousin, Kelly talked me into letting Chip train the horses. Q. Why would you do it -- why would you be the one driving it? Why wouldn't somebody do it for you? Why was this done in a so down-to-earth kind of way? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: Mainly because I'm just hands-on and I like to do things myself. Q. Dr. Blach, your origins in horse racing, how you first got into the sport, and also your origins as for your partnership with Mr. Allen. DR. LEONARD BLACH: Yeah, I guess I was around horses all my life when I was growing up with horses on the farm and with ranches. And then when I graduated from veterinary school in 1960, I was inclined to go into large animals and then equine; and for about ten years I did general equine practice and equine surgery and then started into breeding farms in 1972. I designed and managed the Bueno Suerte Equine in New Mexico and bred quarter horses and thoroughbreds and at that time that was probably the largest quarter horse farm in the nation. I have always been a little into thoroughbreds, too, and since New Mexico since we got the slots, our purses have been tremendous and a little more opportunity in thoroughbreds than there is the quarter horses. Then Mark arrived on the scene the last couple of years and we were -- we have known each other for quite a while in the horse business, so we became a little involved in that and that's how we came along, and it's just been a wonderful trip and a lot of credit goes to Chip Woolley and Calvin Borel today. They really, really helped us out on that horse. We thought we had a pretty nice horse, but we did a great job of training him and excellent job of riding him. Q. How many horses do you own? DR. LEONARD BLACH: Probably own a couple quarter horses together and this thoroughbred. This is the main one we own together, yeah. Probably have another venture here after this one. Q. Chip, how old is your brother? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: He's 48. Q. And Mr. Allen, I talked to you on the phone, and when I talked to you, you said you were a little delayed because your pickup truck broke down in Texas; could you tell me about that, and are you glad to get a new pickup truck now? MARK ALLEN: No, there was no serious problem. I've got a good pickup truck. (Laughter). Q. What happened, really? Did it break down? MARK ALLEN: Yeah, we broke down a little bit in Sweetwater, Texas, me and my cousin, Kelly. Q. Last week, driving? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: Yeah, but we had a fifth wheel behind us, so we were comfortable. DR. LEONARD BLACH: For the record, it did have warranties. Q. What were your thoughts on the sloppy track and how Mine That Bird would perform with the wet surface? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: Well, the horse had never been in the mud at all until we got here, but when you watched the horse train over this track, it was like it was born to run here when it was dry, and when it was wet, it looked even better. The horse just really stepped over the top of it. You could see horses struggling out there, and he never took a step that it looked like a struggle to him. You have to feel pretty good about the muddy racetrack. Q. You indicated earlier this week that you wanted to make sure that you thought this horse belonged here and you wanted to prove that this horse belonged here. What does the win say about that, especially the way that he won? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: Well, I guess there ain't no arguing it now, but I'm just tickled to death, and he's a good horse. I mean, I told that to the press, that we would have a couple of trips in his favor, and we get here and it's the trip we looked for. Other than getting run over, it was the perfect trip for him. And he proved himself, and I'm just really proud of the horse. He laid it on the line for me today, and that's all I could ask of him. Q. Chip, we know that you are a rodeo rider, and I believe a bare-back rider before you got into training horses, and I believe you said when you came to Louisville you were hoping to meet Carl Narzger, who was also a bull rider on the rodeo circuit. Did you have a chance to talk to Carl before the race? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: Well, first of all, I didn't get to meet him, but I would still like to. He's a great trainer. He's done a great job over the years. As far as having Calvin, I was very fortunate to get him and Ron Anderson and Garrett Gomez is the guy that put me in touch with Calvin and his agent, and I owe him a debt of gratitude. Worked out super for us. Q. Mark or Leonard, was he a gelding when you bought him, and do you have any thoughts about him not having a stallion career ahead of him? MARK ALLEN: He was a gelding when we bought him. We was looking for a race horse, not a stallion. Q. When did you consummate the relationship with Calvin, and were you surprised he was available? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: Oh, I was absolutely surprised. As soon as Ron told me, I called Mark and told him, I'll book Calvin, if we can get him, we really want him. Ron held off, made the decision between them, called me right back and I called him right back within 20 minutes of knowing he was available and we got him. And yes, I was very surprised he was available, maybe not for every horse, but for this horse. He's a perfect, perfect fit. Q. Looking at the racing form, it said you've had one win before today; is that correct? Do you remember what race it was? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: Yeah, I can remember. I can remember all the times I've got beat, too. Yeah, we've got a rough start to the year. We run really hard last fall, pretty much run ourselves out of horses. We were on dead legs into the spring, so it's been a little bit slow. The one horse that we had concentrated the year on was this horse. We laid him on and brought him back and every preparation we had done was towards the Sunland Derby with the idea of coming to the Kentucky Derby. When he did not win at Sunland we kind of waited around, bounced it around, and finally decided to come, it's a once-in-a-lifetime chance with these guys. And thank God I was able to pull it off for them. And also, yeah, it was a two-year-old maiden first time starter that I won with, I can remember that, too. Q. Did you give Calvin any instructions at all, and why did he run so poorly in the Breeders' Cup last fall? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: First of all, there's no knock on anybody. When I went to Canada for Mark and Doc and bought this horse, we were right up against the Breeders' Cup. We made a decision to ship him down to run in the Breeders' Cup, and it was probably, in retrospect, a bad decision. We were a little bit too close to it, and actually had to haul to Keeneland and fly, and it was just too close to the race. The colt was a little knocked out from the trip and didn't have a chance to recoup. In retrospect, probably shouldn't have run in it, but that's hindsight now, and that's -- what was the other question? Q. Did you give Calvin any instructions? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: I give very little instructions. There's too much that happens just like at the break today, and if you set a guy on stone in a race, it forces him to ride a certain way. And all I asked him was to lay the horse back and be patient, and he did that magically. Q. When he ran in the Breeders' Cup, Richard Mendalla was his official trainer? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: It was so close to the Breeders' Cup, we made the decision to ship him straight over there, and that was a decision made by Mark and Doc. It was a good decision. I couldn't have gone out there and done the colt justice the way things were. I had to get to Woodbine back home and get back out there, and I actually didn't even attend the race at the Breeders' Cup. I was running horses at home. Q. So the plan all along was to go through Sunland and go through that series with him prior to the Breeders' Cup? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: He didn't run at Sunland prior to Breeders' Cup. Q. To bring him back to Sunland this winter? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: Yes, sir. Mark and Doc had discussed it and turned the horse out after Breeders' Cup and gave him about six weeks rest and shipped him to me at Sunland and I just did my job. I was real disappointed in both of our races this summer. He ran well but he didn't run up to snuff, not for the kind of colt he is. We redeemed ourselves today. Q. Tell us about your accident, too. BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: I just laid a motorcycle down and broke my leg. It's pretty much no big deal. I hit some gravel on the side that knocked my leg off. It's not much of a story. Q. How long ago? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: A little over two months ago in Sunland Park, New Mexico. Q. Assuming the horse comes out okay, are you on to the Preakness? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: That, we will discuss later on, when I've had a chance to discuss it with the owners. Q. (No mic). BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: I wouldn't have wanted to tie it into her, I'll tell you that right now. Q. Could you tell us what you liked about Mine That Bird when you met him in Canada and whether you knew he had the closing speed that he had today? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: Well, I watched every race the horse had run up to that point, and studied him, a lot, before I ever looked at him, and if you just went and looked at him, you probably wouldn't have liked the colt that much. His form was super but he's a little crooked. He's not a super-correct kind of colt, not a big horse. But when you watched his replay, I honestly thought even then that the horse should have been well back off the pace. And he was winning -- I mean, you can't argue with that, Dave Cody did a super job with this horse up there, just win, win, win with him and did a super job. But I thought maybe with a little change that he would get better. I called mark, we discussed it at length, and made the decision to buy the horse. Q. Could you describe your negotiations with the Canadian owner before, was it a tough negotiation? Were they eager to sell? Was there a lot of haggling? MARK ALLEN: There was no haggling. They wanted 400,000; we paid it. (Laughter). Q. How does this change your lives, your operation? I know mark had said you had a two-year-old already that you had your eye on but how does this change things for you moving forward? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: Oh, I'm sure it's going to be a major change. But for the most part, I'm happy with my people, and I really appreciate them and plan to stay with them. Q. Did you bet on him at all 50 to 1? BENNIE WOOLLEY JR.: I don't bet personally, but I know a few people that had rather large wagers on him; I can see one shaking his head back there. THE MODERATOR: Congratulations, incredible day. Ladies and gentlemen, two-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey, Calvin Borel. You kind of went by the same playbook in there one, but talk about this Derby, this horse, what were you thinking going in, did you envision you could win with this horse and just take us through it? CALVIN BOREL: Well, you're in it to win it, so you've always got a shot. I rode him like a good horse. I knew they would be going fast, and track was a little heavy. I didn't -- I didn't know he would give me the response that he give me, but when I worked him out in the morning, he worked in 102 but galloped out in 15 but that wasn't bad. The other horses weren't going that much faster than him. And he's such a small horse, he really skipped across the track, you can't imagine, where I thought the other horses were digging in a lot more than him. THE MODERATOR: You were far, far back; did you expect to be that far back? You were dead last going into the turn in the backstretch, did you anticipate that or ride it how it came up? CALVIN BOREL: I kind of bucked leaving there a little bit and then got the shuffle about five or six horses in front of me so the best thing to do was just get back, sit back and chill and kind of rode him like Street Sense, didn't think he would have the finish he had, but he was there when I asked him. It's not the first mile, it's not the first half a mile that counts, it's always the last and down the back side really and truly, when he got out of the bit, I didn't think I would maybe win, but I knew he would come running because I finally got him out of the bit and he relaxed. And when I picked him up about the 3/8 pole I started looking for a spot because I had a lot of horse under me. THE MODERATOR: You went into a fairly tight hole down the stretch, too, he was flying, but that was a very big sliver in front of you. CALVIN BOREL: It was all right. He did pretty good. THE MODERATOR: You would be today with this horse and you won yesterday; talk about this weekend and what has it meant for you. CALVIN BOREL: It's just unbelievable. I've been blessed by God and my fiancée, and my brother helped me along the way. I just wish my mom and dad was here to see what I accomplished in my life. But other than that, I mean, I can't complain. Q. Can you tell us about the process of ending up on this horse? Were you at all perturbed or insulted that you didn't get a ride that people considered to be a better chance to win this race? CALVIN BOREL: No, not really. My goal was to ride Beethoven. I had him before I got this horse. And you know, I loved Beethoven. I went to Saratoga and rode him, and I run a couple of seconds and thirds, and I thought he would fit good with this group of horses. And he was my main goal. You know, accidents happen, which it did, and so me and my agent wind up picking up this horse. Just at the right place at the right time. Q. What were you pointing to as you were finishing to win? CALVIN BOREL: I was pointing to my fiancée. She knows what I'm pointing at. Q. How surprised are you that you won this race? CALVIN BOREL: Really and truly you've got to be surprised. But like I say, the horse is in the Derby for a reason. He did something down the road to get there, and the quality of horses they had in there this year, you know, if he shows up any time, if you look at his two-year-old campaign, he got beat nine and a half lengths, nine and three quarter lengths against some good two-year-olds in the Breeders' Cup. And if he just shows up something like that, he's going to be right here today, if you look at that. I mean, I think a lot of people didn't look that far back and seen that, but there's a reason, you know, he was there, and then got here. So you know, you've got to ride him to win. That's what I do best. Q. How far out did you see the hole you eventually went through? CALVIN BOREL: Sir? Q. How far back did you see the hole that you eventually went through? CALVIN BOREL: I had pretty good aim on it. I'd say about six, seven lengths back and I spotted it, when I went around the horse, I went around one and usually when the horse is coming down the lane, they will drift when they get tired and the horse that was on the lead, he's always been in front, I watched him run every race. And it just left me enough room, and when I asked my horse, I had enough to get there quick and go on by him. Q. Where on the track did you first feel like you had a chance to win this race? CALVIN BOREL: About the 3/8 pole, when I picked him up a little bit and he grabbed ahold to the bit real good and had a real tight hole. When I went through that hole quick, I knew I had to get ready and find me a little bit of room. I wasn't planning on winning it, but he was going to finish somewhere, because of the way he turned on there about the three-and-a-half. Then after that, you know, then he started picking them up so easy and it was unbelievable. Q. Which was the best horse you rode all weekend, yesterday or today? CALVIN BOREL: I think yesterday's, best horse in my life. Q. In your life? CALVIN BOREL: Yes, sir. Q. And there's talk that she might run in Belmont; is that possible? CALVIN BOREL: Well, I can't say. I'm not the owner; I'm the trainer. I can't say nothing about that. But I don't think she will, no. Q. Which one would you ride? CALVIN BOREL: Oh, which one? Oh, I'd ride her. Like I told you, I think she's the best horse in the country right now. Q. Can you talk about winning two years ago and what it's like coming back now and winning yesterday and getting the win today? CALVIN BOREL: It's the same feeling, you wouldn't imagine. Same emotional feeling. When you win the Derby, there's not enough Derbies to win. You win one, you want another one. You win two, you want another one (chuckling). Q. Talk about these people that you are riding for, these guys from New Mexico, just how special does that feel? CALVIN BOREL: That's what I mean. They put a lot of effort into their horses. Some people, some jockeys don't give people credit but they love their horses. Like I said, he got there one way or another. You know I'm not going to go out there and sit on the horse and just ride him around there. I'm going to give the horse the benefit of the doubt. And if he shows up, we're going to get something done. I'm not just going to go out there and gallop my horse. I don't get paid to do that. So I'm going to go out and give a hundred ten percent no matter if it's a $5,000 horse or a million dollar horse, I'm still going to give a hundred ten percent. Q. What was your impression when you first saw him on Monday; what was your first impression of him? CALVIN BOREL: He looked good. It's true, he's not a very big horse and I got to get on him and worked him 5/8ths of a mile and he went 1:02, but I was more impressed with the gallop out in the race, he gallops out in like 15, and that wasn't too bad. Considering what they had in the race, it wasn't bad at all. Q. Considering your trip, is he agile and able to move through -- CALVIN BOREL: A smaller horse, he can stop and take off faster than a big long lanky horse. A big, long, lanky horse, you get him stopped and take him longer to get going. A little bitty horse, you can get stopped and really kind of weed him through traffic a lot easier than a big horse. Q. Some horses that we have seen win classic races, like Da'Tara in the Belmont, he never came back and did anything else. This horse, is he a horse we will see further down the road? CALVIN BOREL: He finished up good. I have to give him credit, he finished up the last quarter of a mile real good just like a good horse. So I mean, it's the quality of horses that were in the race. I don't know what it's going to be like next time. The favorite scratched, but you can't take nothing away from the horse. He bellied down and run the last quarter of a mile just like a good horse. Q. Of all the long shots you've won in your career, is this your most unbelievable win as a jockey? CALVIN BOREL: Yeah, most probably. Yeah, I've won a lot of long shots, but yes, sir, the Derby, this is unbelievable. Q. This is the second-longest shot ever to win the Kentucky Derby, you surprised Giacomo. CALVIN BOREL: Yeah, me and Michael were talking about that yesterday. Q. Did you celebrate last night after such a great day yesterday? CALVIN BOREL: Well, I think we went home and ate pizza I think last night, yes, sir. Q. Some of us here were a little surprised that you ran out to right the next race after winning the Kentucky Derby, consider taking off? CALVIN BOREL: No, sir, I'm here to ride. Whether it's a $5,000 horse or a million dollar horse, I want to win and that's my game. As long as I stay safe and healthy, I want to be on top. That's where I want to be. Q. There's a great shot of you on NBC with a rose and you were tossing it to the sky. I know both of your parents are gone; is that where that was going? CALVIN BOREL: Yes, sir. Q. What were you thinking? CALVIN BOREL: I accomplished a lot when they were there, but when things got good, we got up here and I win the first Derby. She got to see it; he didn't. You know, then she passed away, and I mean, I just wish they were here now to see what I accomplished in my life. But I know they are watching, and so it's all good. Q. You had a big welcoming back around, you did it with Street Sense two years ago, and all of the people know you, seems like they are all here and it was just as loud this time around. CALVIN BOREL: Just like my family, you wouldn't imagine. Q. A lot was made about how the trainer drove the horse himself from New Mexico; for the average fan, is that unusual for the race horse, for the trainer to drive him himself across the country? Did you think anything about that? Were you worried that was not the right way to go? CALVIN BOREL: Not really. Back in the day, they would go on the train. They got there the way they could. I mean, so it really -- I don't think it took -- he got here long enough. He was here three weeks ago. It didn't take nothing off the colt. The colt was so settled in the paddock and all of the other horses were acting up and he saved a lot of energy, you wouldn't imagine, it was crazy. Q. We kind of asked you this question yesterday but you referred to when you won the Derby with Street Sense, an overnight sensation after 25 years, but it just seems to be getting better. It's been an amazing run for you. CALVIN BOREL: Yes, sir, when it goes good, it goes good. It's just like a ball; it keeps rolling. I keep working hard and finding horses that I like, and, you know, I learned a lot with Carl, you know, finding two-year-olds and getting them there and teaching them the right way and the wrong way, how to do things. It helped me a lot in my career. Q. Is this the best weekend of your career? CALVIN BOREL: Yeah, most probably. Q. Second best? CALVIN BOREL: Second best -- well, I've won a bunch of races here, and second best most probably winning the Derby when I win the first one. THE MODERATOR: We asked you two years ago, I think you took the morning off after the Derby; will you do it again this time. CALVIN BOREL: No, I think I've got to be out in the morning. THE MODERATOR: Are you going to hold in case the White House calls? CALVIN BOREL: If they call, then we'll take off. Q. How many horses do you have to work tomorrow? CALVIN BOREL: Three of them tomorrow. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Calvin Borel. End of FastScripts |
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