	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

BREEDERS' CUP WORLD THOROUGHBRED CHAMPIONSHIPS

November 6, 2010

CHURCHILL DOWNS, KENTUCKY

ERIC WING: Okay. As we are prepared to speak to the winners of the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint in just a moment, just want to give you the margins in the recently concluded race. The winner Chamberlain Bridge by a length and a half over Central City, who was 1 1/4 lengths over the third place finisher, who was Unzip Me. And Unzip Me, a nose in front of the fourth place finisher Bridgetown.
We have the winning owners with us so far. Carl Moore. I'm sorry, Carl. Your wife's name is?
CARL MOORE: Valinda, Valinda Moore.
ERIC WING: First of all, congratulations. I know you, fast turf sprinters are nothing new to you. You have quite a good one in Mr. Nightlinger. I imagine you and Valinda like five furlongs on a level course a lot better than 6 1/2 furlongs with hills.
CARL MOORE: Absolutely. We didn't like the one in Santa Anita before because it's not what we're used to. We love to come back to Churchill. Our horse loves Churchill.
ERIC WING: And the Moores are now joined by familiar faces to anyone who was here, on the far left, trainer Bret Calhoun. Next to Bret is rider Jamie Theriot.
We heard you on TV, Bret, saying that everything was fine with Chamberlain Bridge. You were obviously referring to the foot abscess. But everything was fine except for the post position. Can you comment on the job that Jamie did to neutralize that worry, and then after that, Jamie, I'll ask you to take us through the trip.
BRET CALHOUN: We were down about our post position draw, obviously, so that was a big concern. Jamie has been riding this horse for years for us. He knows this horse inside and out. We had to have a lot of luck. Jamie had to have a very brave ride to kind of pick his way through. He was in a lot of traffic, and this horse really doesn't fire his best race until he gets in the clear.
As soon as he was able to find him a crease and get clear, you know, it was over with.
ERIC WING: Jamie, what was it like for you out there. You know in these races, if something goes wrong, there's not a lot of time to make up for it. How was it for you?
JAMIE THERIOT: You're right. It was -- you know, my horse broke somewhat decent today and kind of let me work his way out. And I did jump. He was in a very tight spot around the turn at 3's pole, and it was my chance of winning. If I don't take that chance, my seam was there.
My horse went on and gave me his heart there. Turned for home and found the seam. This horse when he gets outside of horses in the daylight, he just finds multiple gears.
ERIC WING: The race before for Chamberlain Bridge, the Woodford at Keeneland, was a very strong event, one of the most difficult Turf Sprints you're ever going to see outside the Breeders' Cup. Things didn't go for you all that well with a late break and then you really had to loop the field. Were you kind of on DEFCON 5, so to speak, for any problems around the gate today, Jamie?
JAMIE THERIOT: No. He don't like being in there that long like he was. The less you mess with him, the better off he is. I waited until very late to get a tail on him before the last horse went in, and he broke somewhat decent today.
At Keeneland, yes, it was a horrible break. Four weeks into today, you know, I was still last turning for home that day, and I didn't ask him to really run for his heart that day. He just got beat by a length and a half. I just wanted to save a lot of horse for today.
ERIC WING: Any questions for the winning connections, either upstairs in the press box or right here in the room?

Q. Bret, can you talk about what it's like to win again today?
BRET CALHOUN: You know, to win one Breeders' Cup is just unbelievable, and that's all I can say about winning a second one. Really hasn't sank in yet. I don't know what to say.
ERIC WING: How about the same question for Jamie?
JAMIE THERIOT: You're right. Reality hasn't set in yet. I'm still on a different cloud.
ERIC WING: Jamie, obviously a very bad snub that you were not allotted an individual slot in the jockey wager. Obviously, you're making your case for your own wagering entity next year. How many more mounts do you have? Anything left today?
JAMIE THERIOT: I have one more.
ERIC WING: Oh, Thiskyhasnolimit. Mark him down.
Any more questions either for upstairs or for down here for the Moores or Bret or Jamie? I understand we do indeed have one. Let's take it from the main box.

Q. Bret, first of all, congratulations to all the connections. Can you talk about this horse training here at Churchill Downs since mid-August and coming up to this race?
BRET CALHOUN: Yeah. He's been stabled here all year. You know, he's traveled a lot too. He's based out of here, and he's traveled a lot. He handles all that well. He's a very quirky horse. You know, he has his idiosyncrasies, things he likes and doesn't like. But just training on the track on a daily basis, he's actually a very easy horse to get along with.
It's been straightforward all summer long. We hadn't had any bumps in the road. The biggest scare we had was the foot Friday. That's the only problem we've had all year long. We've had this race in mind since we freshened him last winter, and we've just been very, very fortunate and lucky that everything went like it needed to be to go.

Q. What kind of quirks does he have?
BRET CALHOUN: Well, if you ever watch him come out of the paddock sometimes, he refuses to come out of his stall. You know, stand him in the Winner's Circle, he's a handful. He's not real excited about horses being on his outside. He's just got a mind of his own, but he's got a lot of heart. He's a top horse.

Q. Could you just talk a little bit more about the abscess and when you saw that this week, if you really thought you'd be in this position today?
BRET CALHOUN: Like I said before, it was very unlucky, but it was a bit lucky that it happened far enough out, and we got very lucky that the thing drained very quickly. Sometimes those things can go on and on and on. If it would have gone on for another couple of days, we would have missed this race.
But we got lucky in the fact we found it Friday morning. He had a scheduled work on Saturday. We pulled the shoe Friday, soaked and packed multiple times during the day Friday and Saturday. Saturday, when we pulled the bandage off his foot that morning, we could see where it had drained some, and we felt like we were in good shape then.
We put the shoe back on Sunday morning, and he's trained regularly ever since.
ERIC WING: Bret, you were very up front from the beginning about Chamberlain Bridge's abscess issue, which is obviously a good thing, your candidness. But after enough was written about it, did you feel any pressure whatsoever running him today given that, even if something happened totally unrelated to the abscess, perhaps you would have worn a black hat after the race?
BRET CALHOUN: Sure, that's always in the back of your mind because people always want to blame certain things. If anything would have gone wrong, yeah, they would have said he had some kind of issue, and that wouldn't have looked good.
ERIC WING: We mentioned Mr. Nightlinger earlier, and Chamberlain Bridge and he are hardly your only good turf sprinters in your career. Even when you look at the form, it seems that some trainers have the knack for training turf sprinters and some don't. Without revealing trade secrets, what's the key to preparing a horse to run short on the grass? You obviously do it very, very well.
BRET CALHOUN: I don't think there's any real secrets to it. We've just come across a couple of really good horses. Those horses are very easy to train actually.
ERIC WING: Looks like we're done. So congratulations yet again to Bret Calhoun and Jamie Theriot. Congratulations for the first time to Carl and Valinda Moore. Well done Chamberlain Bridge in the Breeders' Cup turf sprint.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297