Quotations

«He said everything was fine?that the horse felt 100% sound. He likes being out of his stall and doing things, and when he went to the track he had his ears up. He was glad to be back.»

«[As for long-range plans, Ritchey said he will let the horse dictate the timing and which races to plan for.] Once he has some long gallops and a couple of breezes, I'll know a lot more, ... It would be an extremely hard task to get to the Breeders' Cup. The only way is if everything goes perfectly and I can find the right prep for him. But I've told the owners, let's just get him back and find a spot. There is always the Cigar Mile (gr. I) at the end of November, then we'll have a lot of races to choose from next year. It should be a fun experience.»

«I've been a trainer over 30 years, so you put your time in at the small tracks, you finally get an opportunity to find a horse of this ability, believe me it's the horse,»

«I think he'll go a mile and a half without a problem. I always have. Ever since I had him as a two-year-old in the Breeders' Cup. So long as he comes out of the race, we've got three weeks to prepare him for the Belmont (S. [G1]). My plans at this point are to go forward to the Belmont.»

«I said before, hopefully, Belmont day, I would move for every racetrack to have a lemonade stand on Belmont day throughout the entire United States and give a dollar to the lemonade stand or their local juvenile cancer fund. And, like I said earlier, everybody who was fortunate enough to bet on this horse, makes a little money, just take $1, donate it to Alex's Lemonade Stand or local juvenile cancer fund, and maybe we can make the world a better place.»

«(Cordero's) been bugging me for a year, ... He always wants to get on him, always wants to get on him. I think it was a little something extra for the fans.»

«(Afleet Alex) likes doing things and he likes people. So, he had to enjoy this. His ears were up for almost the whole time. It was something different for him to do and I'm glad we were able to fit it into our program. Saratoga asked us if we would do it, and we were more than glad to -- anything to help support the sport that is my livelihood.»

«Angel has been bugging me for a year. He has always wanted to get on him. When they asked me to do this, and the X-rays were fine and everything was OK to go on the tack again, I called him up and said I've got something for you on Saturday. He was more than glad to do it. I think that it was something a little extra for the fans.»

«I don't anticipate any more problems because it's 99.9 percent healed. He still has a lot of muscle on him. He doesn't have a big belly. That was the point of walking him two hours a day -- keeping him fit and maintaining muscle tone without putting stress on his legs.»

«We will know more after he starts galloping,»