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BREEDERS' CUP WORLD THOROUGHBRED CHAMPIONSHIPSNovember 5, 2010H. Graham MotionKevin PlankEdgar PradoCHURCHILL DOWNS, KENTUCKY ERIC WING: We are now joined in the interview room by the winning connections of Shared Account. Incidentally, Shared Account winning by a neck over Midday, who was a neck ahead of Keertana, with a length back to the fourth horse. Gentlemen, congratulations. Left to right is owner Kevin Plank from Sagamore Farms, historic Sagamore Farms. In the middle, jockey Edgar Prado. This was Edgar's fourth career Breeders' Cup win as a jockey, his first since Round Pond back in 2006. And to our right, a man celebrating his second Breeders' Cup win as a trainer. He had a lot of near misses in this race with Film Maker. Unfortunately, there was another horse by the name of Ouija Board, who was constantly in her way. Graham Motion's previous Breeders' Cup win as a trainer in 2004 with Better Talk Now. Let's start out with the winning owner Kevin Plank. Kevin, you're the CEO of Under Armour. That's been a terrific success. You've made news in the racing business recently when you purchased the historic Sagamore Farms, which had been previously owned by the Vanderbilts. How did your enthusiasm in racing develop and grow to the point where you purchased a historic farm and now own a Breeders' Cup winner? KEVIN PLANK: Yeah, well, my relationship with racing, it began, I dare say, I was a Maryland grad. So it began in the infield of the Preakness many, many years ago, and then it evolved to my love for the state of Maryland. And then, of course, it's just a passion of horses and racing. When I got involved, I had a friend of mine that had been out in Kentucky for a while working on a farm, and the two of us decided we'd take a reach and try and build something special. That buddy of mine was Tommy Mullikin, who had been fed up working in a corporate job and decided he wanted to work with horses. So when you look at the state of racing in Maryland, I decided someone should probably do something about it, and, frankly, I fit the profile of someone who could do something about it. So buying one of the most important farms in our state and bringing it back to the place of importance that it deserves has been the mission. I tell you, coming across a horse like this that I know the books today call it our long shot, in our opinion, man, she's a winner. She was classy. She runs the way that defines our farm and frankly defines the operation that the most important characteristic I found in everything I've done, whether it's business or personal or family, has been my team. It begins with the great team that I have at home, my beautiful wife D.J., my little man James here, my little baby girl Katherine at home, and the great support system that we have. The team that I have at Under Armour that allows me to do this, and I promise you I was at work until about 1:30 today before we flew out here and got to play as much as work. And then, of course, the team that we have on the farm. It begins with the guy that pulls it all together every day, and that's my partner Tom Mullikin. Tommy, hats off to you and what you put together and the sacrifice and the belief. We make a pretty good odd couple that works pretty well together. And then, of course, having Graham, if I could, you know, the vision that we've had for each other. We've had some ups and downs with this filly, too, and we've had some times that you believe and times that you just can't not believe. Finding the right magic with Graham and, you know, putting the exclamation point with finding Edgar to put on her back and really just found a way to make her a great winner. Of course, all this wouldn't happen if it hadn't been for the keen eye of our bloodstock agent Bob Feld. Bobby, great job, man. Hats off to you. We said she's either going to win today, or she'll have the next Triple Crown winner. So I still think she's got a shot at both. ERIC WING: Edgar, it was kind of a wild finish out there. Take us through your trip, if you would. EDGAR PRADO: Me and Graham, we got here early today and tried to get a feeling for the first part of the race. She broke well but then two horses go inside of me. I let them go and was right behind them most of the way. I was very happy all the way there. The only thing that was a little concern was around the quarter pole when the horse started backing up. Luckily, we got room, both horses can go through. When we did, we started to battle to the end. And today she really want to win, you know. Any time a horse would put a head in front, and just come back on it. She buried in, and I was happy for her. ERIC WING: Graham, I know you were always very confident in this filly's ability to get a distance of ground. The Flower Bowl perhaps not run under ideal conditions for her to display that, yet you pressed on. You had no problem running a 46-1 shot in the filly and mare turf. Here you are. Why was your confidence in this filly so steadfast in the year? GRAHAM MOTION: First of all, we did it before with a 27-1 shot. So I wasn't too worried about that. This filly, this has always been the goal for this filly. I thought to write her off after one bad race was very unfair. It was very soft that day. The filly really doesn't want to be on the lead. We felt with different situations that things would be fine. I thought the turf was in great shape. Edgar just rode a beautiful race. The other thing was -- the last thing I told him was to try to stay off the rail because I thought it was a little soft. I was worried about that. ERIC WING: Before we throw it up for questions here in the room and upstairs, a question for both Edgar and Graham, and you can take turns answering it. Many, many years ago, I'm not sure exactly how many for sure, Graham, you were kind of out on your own for the first time. GRAHAM MOTION: Long time ago. ERIC WING: Not too many people outside of Suffolk Downs had heard of Edgar Prado, and the two of you really kind of made names for each other and with each other during the times in the Maryland circuit. How satisfying is it for both of you to win a Breeders' Cup race with the other one? EDGAR PRADO: Definitely it's very happy, and definitely -- there's no words to describe it because, like I said, we come from Boston on our way to Maryland. That's when I met Graham. Now we have this beautiful thing with Sagamore. And I think that all together it's paid off today. We have faith in the filly, and she had a shot in the Breeders' Cup, and luckily it paid off. ERIC WING: Graham? GRAHAM MOTION: It's obviously huge. I tend to get a little more wrapped up in the emotional, personal things than Edgar. Edgar's always been one of my favorite riders, if not my favorite rider. It went from the days when I couldn't get him when I was getting started. It's pretty special, very special. And she's a very special filly. She's just the kindest, nicest filly to be around, which makes it -- we're just very fond of him. ERIC WING: Any questions in the room for the winning connections of Shared Account? Q. Graham, you mentioned this race was always the target. When did she show you that she was ready for this level this year? Was it when she came back at four, or was there a particular race this year that said we need to make this the target? GRAHAM MOTION: I think last year. We decided last year this was going to be the target. Kevin was really understanding how to go about it. We gave her a break over the winter. I'm a big believer of not starting too early in the year. If you want to be around in November, you don't want to start too early. KEVIN PLANK: I wasn't that understanding. I think Graham -- but he's teaching me racing. It's a very good partnership. GRAHAM MOTION: You know, we kind of took the same course we did with Film Maker. We started with the Gallorette, and that's what gets you here today. ERIC WING: Kevin, have you decided -- today has a way of changing everything, I suppose. But have you decided what the plans are for 2011 for Shared Account? KEVIN PLANK: That's not my decision. Again, I've got a good team that helps makes those calls. My job is to support and make sure we've got the best resources in the world to go out and just breed championships. What racing needs right now, it needs great stories, and great stories are bred from great winning. And winning begets winning. We're very lucky to have a filly like this that will be -- with Graham at Fair Hill and as a part of Sagamore and a part of our stable, this is a foundation horse. That's what I had some very smart people, a guy named Dan Rosenberg taught me that as well. Thank you very much for some of those lessons learned throughout time. We're lucky and blessed to have her, and we're going to use her moving forward. ERIC WING: Kevin, outside of being a Maryland guy, how did you hook up with Graham Motion when you got into the business? KEVIN PLANK: Out at Fair Hill. Listen, Graham is a world class trainer, and I think somebody that fit the DNA that we have. You know, finding your way -- and I guess we're probably, Tommy, in our fifth or sixth year of doing this barely. Our team has always pushed me on this. You know, it's really hard. I'm saying, when are we getting to The Derby? When are we going to win Preakness? They said, those things are very hard. The lesson I use at Under Armour is we've always been smart enough to be naive enough to not know what we can't accomplish. So I've achieved a certain naivete of expecting greatness and not knowing it's not that hard. As you can tell, our team steps up when no one else believes, and we're holding the 40-1 ticket, and we absolutely punched that ticket today in more ways than just the betting window. I think it's a great story. It's an only in America story. Been blessed to have that come through in a lot of aspects in my life. ERIC WING: And that $94 payoff incidentally is the largest win mutuel in the history of the Emirates Airline Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Any additional questions for our group? Q. Graham, could you speak a little bit about Midday was so good last year and going up against her this year, what that was like. GRAHAM MOTION: Yeah, I mean, it's very gratifying, no disrespect, to beat a filly of that quality and a filly that's coming back to try and win it for the second time. I thought the Europeans looked really tough in here. Not just her, but the French filly as well. I just think it just shows the class of our filly, and it's very gratifying. No doubt. ERIC WING: Kevin Plank, Edgar Prado, and Graham Motion, congratulations on a memorable win today in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf. Congratulations. KEVIN PLANK: Great job. Go, guys. End of FastScripts |
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