Julien Leparoux (rider of winner Silver Timber)
“He sat right behind him (early leader Mr. Nightlinger) all the way, and he finished very strong.”
On winning performance in his first start on a turf course labeled “soft”
“Actually, he didn’t really like it. I think on the firm ground he will be much better. He was kinda sliding a little bit around the turn. He could overcome it and win the race.”
Chad Brown (trainer of Silver Timber)
On claiming Silver Timber for $25,000 in April at Gulfstream Park:
“A lot of credit goes to (owner) Mike Dubb. He’d been following the horse and asked me to go look at him that day, so we took him.”
“He just fits well in our program. He just keeps getting better and better, so we’re happy to have him.”
Bret Calhoun (trainer of second-place finisher Mr. Nightlinger)
“He ran great. He ran his race. We just got outrun. I can’t say the soft turf hindered us because he’s run well on it before. Right now, we have no plans to go to the Breeders’ Cup.”
Jamie Theriot (rider of Mr. Nightlinger)
“The track is fair, it’s playing fine and my horse felt great on it. I was surprised with how good the track was with all the rain we got. I slowed it down a lot in the second quarter. I gave him a breather and coming around the turn I thought I was home free. But it’s a nice horse that beat me, he has a lot of class, and I just got outrun today.”
Glenn Wismer (trainer of third-place finisher Goldzar)
“I was real impressed. I thought he ran a good race. He won his last three races so easy I had try him in a stakes. I don’t think he liked the soft turf, but I think he handled it okay. But I think he would really have loved to have run on the Polytrack. I was going to run him in the Phoenix (G3 at Keeneland) yesterday but thought it came up a little tougher. But this one came up just as tough.”
Miguel Mena (rider of Goldzar)
“He’s a very nice horse. He handled the grass good. He tried hard and ran a really big race. He’ll be all right.”
Jesus Castanon (rider of fourth-place finisher Fort Prado, who won the race in 2007)
“After all the rain we got yesterday, it makes it harder for horses coming from behind. I know he can handle any kind of course, but the horses in front never really came back to me. But he gave me his best. If the course was a little firmer, I know he would have picked it up a little more, but I have no excuse.”
Chris Block (trainer of Fort Prado)
“He tried real hard, but I was concerned about the soft turf because he doesn’t run his best over a course like that. This may have been his last race. He may run one more time in Illinois, but the plan now is for him to stand at stud in Illinois in 2010.”