October 31, 2015
An Interview With:
PAUL REDDAM
DOUG O’NEILL
DENNIS O’NEILL
MARIO GUTIERREZ
THE MODERATOR:
Everybody, the
winner of the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile is
Nyquist. We're joined by winning trainer Doug
O'Neill, winning jockey Mario Gutierrez, owner Paul
Reddam and Dennis O'Neill. Congratulations to all
of you.
Mario, maybe you can start by telling us
about your trip. You didn't do anything fancy, just
rode him like the best horse.
MARIO GUTIERREZ: That was the plan,
you know. There is not too much things we could
have done from the 13 position. So, like, I just rode
him with confidence. I know what kind of type of colt
he is. He gives me a lot of confidence. That plays
a big factor for me not to worry and not to make
something crazy to happen, try to make something
crazy happen early.
THE MODERATOR: How much did you
talk about the strategy before the race?
DOUG O'NEILL: We talked a lot. It was all
about doing something exactly different than what
happened
[Laughter]. But I think it just, it shows what
a great jockey Mario is to call an audible when other
horses went. And I believe mid-race all of us up
here, maybe not you, but mid-race, I thought they're
not machines. Even the great horses every now
and then just don't fire. I thought maybe he just
wasn't firing. But when Mario called on him, he sure
did. Can't thank Paul and Zilla so much for this
beautiful colt, my brother, Dennis, helping with the
selection. And Elias, the groom, who is just an
unbelievable horseman. All the guys at the barn.
So special horse.
THE MODERATOR: Paul, let's hear from
you. How special is this horse?
PAUL REDDAM: Well, he's five for five
special
[Laughter].
Pretty
much,
from
the -- actually, from the time Dennis and Jamie
McCalmont also loved the colt at the sale and it was
odd to hear the two of them agree on anything. And
so I knew he was special right then.
As he was trading down, you could hear the
excitement in the voices that he was going to be
something. And we really kind of got verification of
that in his first start, when he just refused to lose.
I think that's the biggest thing about him,
and we saw it today, that he will go as fast or as slow
as you want to go, and he took a lot of abuse among
the handicappers for his descending buyers coming
into the race.
I thought, well, is it really a criticism that you
didn't win by enough? I think he proved himself
today, certainly.
THE MODERATOR: Dennis, can you talk
about when you first saw Nyquist at the sale and
picked him out?
DENNIS O'NEILL: Actually, I called Paul
right away, and I owe a lot to Jamie. Jamie helped
out a ton. Jamie really, really loved him too. From
day one, Jamie and I were like this is one we have
to have in the barn. We were surprised. We thought
he'd be really, really expensive.
DOUG O'NEILL:
$400,000 isn't that
expensive nowadays. Sorry.
DENNIS O'NEILL: He's probably the most
beautiful horse I've ever bought. He's just a
gorgeous animal. I cannot wait until he turns three
and he starts to fill out and he's just going to be a
magnificent looking horse.
THE MODERATOR: It's very exciting to
think about him as a three-year-old.
So Paul, you've got the early Kentucky
Derby favorite. Just talk about how hard it is to not
think forward to the first Saturday of May.
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PAUL REDDAM:
The early Kentucky
Derby favorite thing doesn't work out too often. So
I think what we're going to do is just absorb what
happened today and we'll worry about the Derby in
a few months.
THE MODERATOR: That's so measured
and logical
[Laughter].
Doug, how about you? Are you excited
about the first Saturday of May?
DOUG O'NEILL: I'm going to agree with
whatever Paul just said. I think it is. If you get lucky
enough and have a horse that can run in the Triple
Crown races, you really need a lot of energy and a
lot of gas in the tank, if you will. So I think we're
probably all on the same page that he'll get a little
bit of rest here, but Paul, Jamie, Dennis, Zilla, and
Mario, we'll put our heads together and figure out
what the plan will be. Again, just he's an amazing
horse.
THE MODERATOR:
Questions from
anybody in the room.
Q. Any one of you can answer this. The
way Mario rode, thinking he was the best horse
in the race, and this is especially for Mr. O'Neill,
given the fact that he has always been in front
or close to the front, you said no matter what,
know no inhibitions, no restraint, do the best
you can and keep going. Were those your
instructions?
DOUG O'NEILL: Well, I think it's such a
huge asset to have speed, class, and stamina.
Nyquist has all three of those. Today, he showed
that he can lose ground on the first turn and settle
and make up ground. So he's just, he's added a
fourth dimension to a brilliant quality.
So it didn't really work out the way I thought
initially, but the end result was what we were all
hoping and praying for, for sure.
Q. Your post position did not present
you many options.
DOUG O'NEILL: Right. I think Mario rode
it to a tee. He left there like he was on speed and
he had to call an audible when he wasn't. Hat's off
to you get a rider under pressure like that who
doesn't do the right thing, and he could have
emptied the tank out and maybe got the lead, but
would have had nothing late.
So credit to Mario, just quality audible call.
Tom Brady of jockeys.
PAUL REDDAM: Hats off for not panicking.
Q. I can see you're a New England fan.
DOUG O'NEILL: Well, I wouldn't say the
Lions quarterback, but the Lions kind of suck right
now.
THE MODERATOR: Dennis, you shipped
in here a few weeks ago and won with an Uncle Mo,
correct?
DENNIS O'NEILL: Me and my son stood in
the same exact spot. You talk about different trips.
It shows you how good Mario has gotten. He's one
of the best now.
The trip with that race in the All Sprites, [ck]
he was inside.
DOUG O'NEILL: Dennis wasn't very good
a few months ago either. Go ahead.
DENNIS O'NEILL: We've all gotten better.
We've all gotten better.
DOUG O'NEILL: Dennis has gotten better
too.
DENNIS O'NEILL: This trip is exactly
opposite, to break from the 13 and think you're
going to be up close and then to audible and stay in
the clear like that.
Mario, it's funny, because we were very
kind of nervous coming in, like you always are for a
Breeders' Cup race. He was just so calm. He kept
telling me, just relax, I've got it under control. He
did.
It was a brilliant, brilliant outcome.
Unbelievable.
Q. If memory serves me right, Red
Rocks won for you the Turf at Churchill. What
is Red Rocks doing now? When Curlin was
planning to go to the arc to have a grass race,
you beat Curlin in a stake race at Belmont. I
can't remember the name of the race. What is
Red Rocks doing now?
PAUL REDDAM: He stands at Calumet
Farm two miles away.
Q. Do you know, Doug, how many starts
you want to get into him before the Derby?
DOUG O'NEILL: That will be part of a Team
Reddam meeting.
DENNIS O'NEILL: Two.
DOUG O'NEILL: Two, I believe. I think we
want to have -- in an ideal world, you want to have
as much energy as you can going into that kind of
race and then, hopefully, the following races.
THE MODERATOR: That's easier to do
now with this being worth 20 points, correct?
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DOUG O'NEILL: Yes, and this horse has
such an amazing foundation with five races under
his belt and shipping outside of California and doing
what he did. We got to see him handle everything
like he was right in his own back yard.
So he showed us a lot, and I think we can
be really confident if we stay injury-free for an
exciting three-year-old year.
DENNIS O'NEILL: That was a huge thing,
seeing him in the Paddock. So classy, never turned
a hair, like he'd been here a hundred times. That
was when we got real confident.
THE MODERATOR:
You guys feel
particularly proud of California taking the exacta
here and basically five races in a row?
DOUG O'NEILL: I think California racing,
obviously we are biased, but we've got the weather,
we've got the facilities and have great racing out
there. So we love it.
DENNIS O'NEILL: Keith ran second and
fourth, I think.
THE MODERATOR: He ran second.
DOUG O'NEILL: Who was third?
DENNIS O'NEILL: The favorite.
PAUL REDDAM: Brody's Cause?
DENNIS O'NEILL: It was Brody's Cause? I
thought it was Green.
Swipe was second,
Exaggerator was fourth.
THE MODERATOR: Congratulations to the
connections of Nyquist, winners of the Breeders'
Cup Juvenile.
FastScripts by ASAP Sports
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