Click here for a replay of the race and the post-race interview with winning connections.

Junior Alvarado (winning rider of Tam Tam)

“Looking at the fractions coming back, I thought I was traveling 49 (seconds for the half-mile), the way she was doing it. Then I saw it was 47. But like I say, ‘Sometimes it’s not how fast you’re going; it’s how you’re going fast.’ She was a filly that was traveling beautiful the whole way around. You don’t want to get in her way. When you let her do her own thing, she runs like she did today.”

Phil Bauer (winning trainer)

“You don’t think you can top Grade 1s, but this tops (winning the) Del Mar (Oaks-G1 Aug. 22). Del Mar was extremely special, but Keeneland is the top. Growing up, coming here — I mean, this is the (top) echelon. I like when (jockey) Junior (Alvarado) gives me that slogan, ‘It’s not how fast you’re going; it’s how you’re going fast.’ That’s what I told (owner) Mr. (Richard) Rigney down the backside, ‘They went 47 but she’s cruising; she looks good.’ We were excited how she was traveling, and when she turned for home I was glad he didn’t wait. 

“Good horses take you places, and she has. We’re just very blessed to have her. I’m so fortunate to be in this position and so proud of the barn and excited for things to come. Scary to say, but I really think she’s just going to keep getting better and better. She’s all class. We kind of joked all week that we were walking around the barn like roosters with our chests puffed out. You watch her train, she puts a smile on your face. She did it all week. Her last breeze, she went out with a quartet of horses, breezing, and three of them came back panting like, ‘We did something,’ and she was looking around like, ‘What else do I need to do?’ So we knew she was ready and are just elated that she could get the job done.”

Richard Rigney (winning owner)

“(Getting our first Keeneland Grade 1) is so unbelievable, and it actually worked out so great for us. Our bloodstock agent, John Moynihan, was actually the breeder of this horse (as adviser to Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings), so today I was telling John, ‘Thank you so much. We couldn’t have gotten here without you.’ John is like, ‘This is a team. We really need to be thanking (trainer) Phil Bauer and his group for what they’ve done to get this horse here.’ He’s done an unbelievable job, to be able to ship to Del Mar and win a Grade 1, the Del Mar Oaks, and then come back here. This was a really tough field, an invitational. Any horse in this field could have won this race. Phil had the horse in the right spot. We knew she was going to do well. We were so happy coming into this race. We felt very confident. It was fun for us.”

Jose Ortiz (rider of runner-up Faithful Departed)

“Perfect trip. The winner (Tam Tam) broke better than everyone else. She took the lead and I followed her closely, but she was the best horse today.”

John Velazquez (rider of eighth-place finisher and beaten favorite Luster)

“We had a really good trip. That’s her style (to be close early) but she just didn’t show up today. I think more than anything that she didn’t like the course. The winner really liked the course and just kept running.”