Brad Cox (winning trainer of Golden Mischief)
“I thought the Winning Colors (a Grade 3 race in May at Churchill Downs where she ran fifth) was where she could get some graded black type. She was the heavy favorite there but had a really rough trip first quarter of a mile, and she just kind of packed it in that day.
“We thought we’d try to get her confidence back and shipped to Prairie Meadows and Mountaineer (where she won the Saylorville and West Virginia Secretary of State, respectively) and she responded well. After that we spaced it out and really pointed for this race. She responded big time today and trained extremely well coming into it. She didn’t let us down.”
On whether she will continue to the Breeders’ Cup World Championships
“That will be up to (owner) Juddmonte (Farms), but probably my vote is going to be to go.”
Florent Geroux (winning rider)
“She broke super sharp and was a bit closer than what I wanted. I waited about two steps to let Chalon go in front of me. I wanted her to be my target, and not the other way around. So I just took a little hold and had her in front of me. I found a nice opening at the eighth pole and shot through it and she just kept on going.”
Javier Castellano (rider of runner-up Chalon)
“I had a good trip. It was what I was looking for today. We had a good pace on the outside and had a good track for our speed. We were set right behind the (front) two horses, which is the spot I was looking for today, but I just got beat. I am very satisfied with how she ran today.”
Ricardo Santana Jr. (rider of third-place finisher Vertical Oak)
“She ran a good race. She tried hard. She gave me everything she had in the tank.”
Mike Smith (rider of fourth-place finisher Miss Sunset)
“She broke really well. I would have liked to have been on the lead, but it was kinda occupied. Several (horses) really went (to the lead) and I thought to myself well this is probably a good time to go. I’ve set off from before with her – of course, I always got to the outside of them. I wasn’t able to do that today, but man it was wide open down in there. I can’t really complain about the trip; she just didn’t fire her ‘A’ race.”
