Quotes from the $350,000 Darley Alcibiades (G1)

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

Kenny McPeek (winning trainer of Simply Ravishing. He was not at Keeneland for the race. He will saddle the filly Swiss Skydiver in tomorrow’s Preakness-G1)

On running 1-2 in the Darley Alcibiades with Simply Ravishing and Crazy Beautiful to earn his fifth win in the race

“They are both really special fillies. I kind of hated to run them against each other, but it is a race we are obviously fond of and we felt like we had a heck of a chance with both of them in there. We will probably go to the Breeders’ Cup with both of them. I told (D. Wayne) Lukas a long time ago that I would win more Alcibiades than him. (Lukas has six wins in the race.)”

Alan Shell (assistant to McPeek)

“I don’t think we know how good she is. She’s won on turf, dirt, going short, going long. It’s just real exciting. We’re just so thankful we have owners like Mr. (Harold) Lerner and Jack Cohen and Magdalena Racing that are behind us. They made a commitment when they bought this filly. They buy the best horses. Kenny did a great job picking her out. It’s all a team effort.”

Luis Saez (winning rider)

“I knew two very fast horses were inside. (I thought) let’s break from there and see what they’re doing. She breaks so sharp; she was right there. It was easy. We took it (the lead). She was traveling pretty good. I felt like I had a lot of horse all the way. When we came to the straight, she just took off. She did it pretty easy, like normal. Like nothing. It was amazing. She’s a very good filly.” 

Brian Hernandez Jr. (rider of runner-up Crazy Beautiful, also trained by McPeek)

“The winner was on the lead and got to cruise along like she wanted to, and we were right there on her flank. Turning for home, our filly switched leads and picked it up. The fractions were a little slow at the beginning. The winner had everything go her way and we were right there next to her. We just couldn’t run her down.”