Here & There – May 8

- -

Orb won the Kentucky Derby, Grinding Speed rebounded from a fall to win the Virginia Gold Cup and now it’s on to the Nashville for the Iroquois Saturday and Baltimore for the Preakness next Saturday. Here’s your Here and There for post-Derby, post Gold Cup.

Worth Repeating

“I think my name’s on one of them.” – Trainer Shug McGaughey, about the Derby trophy during Derby week

“He trained good on it, that’s all I can tell you.” – McGaughey, when asked if Orb would like the sloppy track Saturday afternoon

“He did it. He did it. He did it.” – Jen Patterson, exercise rider for Orb, moments after he won the Kentucky Derby

“We got him into the barn and I think he was the first Malibu Moon we’ve had. I said, ‘golly, if that’s what Malibu Moons look like we need more of them.” – Robbie Medina, assistant to Shug McGaughey, about Orb

“I remember when Shug was inducted into the Hall of Fame that he said at the end of his speech, ‘I really would like to win a Kentucky Derby for Stuart or Dinny,’ and I thought, well, that’s a good sign because we don’t want him laying down after he gets in the Hall of Fame.” – Stuart Janney, co-owner of Orb, in the Kentucky Derby press conference

“You see this man right there? That’s my agent. He’s the one to make all the calls, so he’s been doing very good for me, and he’s a great agent. I kind of feel like after I got him, things went really well for me. I’m really happy about it.” – Jockey Joel Rosario, pointing to agent Ron Anderson, in the Kentucky Derby press conference

“Jen’s getting her share of camera time.” – Duncan Patterson, father of Orb’s exercise rider

“You wouldn’t want to be standing there with no horse in June because you took a shot today.” – McGaughey, when scratching Point Of Entry from the Woodford Reserve

“Have you noticed as the distances increase his margin of victory decreased?” – Would-be bettor at Saratoga watering hole taking a stand against Verrazano

“You go back to praying.” – HRRN’s Jude Feld, describing trainers’ emotions after they give their jockey a leg up

“I’ll give you a thousand dollars for that spot.” – Spectator to clerk of scales Javier Torres, as he stood – dry – under the awning at the winner’s circle scales at Churchill Downs

“My first grade one.” – Trainer Ralph Nicks, after Aubby K won the Humana Distaff

“We can train one.” – Trainer Wayne Catalano, when asked if he was worried about Stephanie’s Kitten returning from a six-month layoff in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile

“It’s not an easy job.” – Hall of Fame jockey Calvin Borel, about life as a jockey

“I tried to adopt ‘Comply or Die’ as my motto. Nobody in the office knows I stole it from whoever named that horse.” – Amateur jump jockey James Stierhoff, who works in compliance at Brown Advisory; English steeplechaser Comply Or Die won the 2008 Grand National at Aintree.

“Oh gracious, sakes alive.” – Trainer/breeder Janet Elliot, when asked to go back to the beginning when she bred Maryland Hunt Cup winner Professor Maxwell

“It was difficult for some of the riders to get along with him, because you see a stride and you ride for it and he says, ‘no, it’s my way.’ ” – Elliot, describing Professor Maxwell’s approach to jumping

“Mr. Ohrstrom, Betty Bird, Mike Freeman…they were all up there cheering the team on.” – Elliot, who bred Maryland Hunt Cup winner Professor Maxwell, about gone-but-not-forgotten mentors who helped along the way

“Like shooting fish in a barrel.” – Bettor at Virginia Gold Cup

“They ran out of money when I tried to cash my ticket at the end of the day.” – Another bettor at Virginia Gold Cup

By the Numbers

81,017: Dollars bet at the Virginia Gold Cup

Finding Winners

The TIHR handicappers did OK at Churchill Downs Saturday as Joe selected four winners from the six stakes on Kentucky Derby Day – Aubby K, Delaunay, Wise Dan (after the scratch of Point Of Entry) and Orb. Sean and Tom had two each (Wise Dan and Orb). Evidently, Sean cashed a ticket in the Derby…

On the steeplechase side, Joe and Sean had two each (Brave Prospect and Gawaarib) at Saturday’s Virginia Gold Cup while Tom answered with three (adding Sacred Soul to the same pair). At Winterthur Sunday, Joe rallied by coming up with three out of four – Port Morsbey and Peace Fire on scratches and Lear Of The Cat; Sean had two (Port Morsbey and Peace Fire) while Tom was blanked. For the steeplechase weekend, that’s five for Joe, four for Sean, three for Tom. Joe leads the season standings with 22, followed by Tom (18) and Sean (15).

On a related note, Sean is crushing the field in the TIHR game at myfantasystable.com after taking the Kentucky Derby with Orb. Sean’s Riverdee Stable passed the $3.5 million mark. Second-place Jack Clancy’s stable is at $1.8 million. The race from here is for second place, we’re afraid.

Watch Orb win the Kentucky Derby.

Check out photo spread from Virginia Gold Cup.