JOCKEY QUOTES

TYLER BAZE, RENEE’S TITAN, WINNER: (In response to Dennis O’Neill’s comment that Renee’s Titan is “crazy”): “She’s got a few problems in her head, but she can really run when she holds it all together and she proved that today.

“I have a lot of confidence in this filly. I’ve been working her from the gate in the mornings for Doug so I knew she would break well. She’s very good in the gate, doesn’t move. I think I broke on the lead even, I just sat on her and was as patient as I could be. I didn’t care how far back we were but by the 3/16ths pole I knew it was time to get going. I skimmed the rail there, lost my stick, but she was running so I just did whatever I could to keep her going.”

(In response to horses being able to come off the pace well lately):
“It just depends on the horse, really. I have a lot of horses that don’t like eating the dirt but the ones that don’t mind it are nice to ride.”


GARRETT GOMEZ, BEHOLDER, SECOND: “She ran very well. I had expectations of a win but she’s coming off her first race since the Breeders’ Cup, going two turns. We have been working to get her to settle and the idea was (with the outside draw) to let her find herself and see what happened from there. She cruised up there like she was going to do what she was supposed to and she got a little tired is all. We turned for home and I thought we were going to be fine and I got the wrong answer, not the one I was looking for. She’s a gamer, she’ll bounce back and we’ll see what Richard (Mandella) does with her next.”


TRAINER QUOTES

LEANDRO MORA, ASSISTANT TO DOUG O’NEILL, RENEE’S TITAN, WINNER: “When she was behind a lot of horses, I was hoping to finish at least third. The horses were all packed and when Beholder started moving I said, ‘OK, that’s adios.’ Now we got to work it out for some position . . . When she (Renee’s Titan) started running like that, I knew we had a huge chance.”

Asked about dropping Tyler Baze after the race: “She’s done it before, but mostly in the mornings. She dumped Kevin Krigger in a workout, so we keep company with her, always, always. She’s so tough to train, we keep switching horses, not the same horse every morning, because she’ll run them out. We do what we have to. She’s likes to be athletic, so be it.”


RICHARD MANDELLA, BEHOLDER, 1-5 FAVORITE, SECOND: “She just got a little tired, I’d say. She had a nice trip. I don’t think that was the deal (when asked if she didn’t see the inside horse, Renee’s Titan). I think she just got a little tired.”

Mandella said if all’s well she’ll go on to the Grade I, $250,000 Las Virgenes Stakes at one mile on March 2).

NOTES: The winning owner is Zillah Reddam of Sunset Beach, CA. Doug O’Neill was at Oaklawn Park today with Avare who ran in the Smarty Jones Stakes.