Quotes from the $400,000 Darley Alcibiades (G1)

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

Brad Cox (winning trainer of Juju’s Map)

“She sat close to a hot pace and was still able to finish, and I thought, ‘That’s what good horses do.’ She broke running, Florent (Geroux) put her in a good position and she finished up well. I’m very proud of her performance. We’ll obviously talk it over with the Albaugh team, and as long as she comes out of it in good order I think we’ll march on toward California (and the Nov. 5, $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies-G1). It was a good trip last time and hopefully she can show up and run her race and be very effective.”

Florent Geroux (winning jockey)

“She’s very talented to start with, but today it was tricky because there were a couple other speed horses. From the one hole, you have to use speed to your advantage, to make sure they don’t cross over and slow it down too fast. So I just wanted to break ahead so if they wanted the lead they would have to work for it, and that’s what they did.

“I was able to ease her back in the first turn. From there she took a nice breather with me down the backside and from there I knew she was going to be pretty tough. Turning for home I saw (Matareya) coming up and she’s pretty talented too, but when I asked her down the lane she gave me another gear, the kind of effort you want to see, and hopefully she’s going into the Breeders’ Cup in the right way.”

Tyler Gaffalione (rider of runner-up Distinctlypossible)

“I loved her effort today. She lacked the experience, but I thought she took a big step forward and I’m really looking forward to her down the road. There was a lot of speed in the race. (Trainer) Chad (Brown) said to just be patient with her and save some ground and make one run, and she did everything I asked.”

Dallas Stewart (trainer of third-place finisher Sequist)

“She ran pretty good. She got knocked around in the gates. She didn’t get out like we wanted her to. The short stretch didn’t help her either.”

On whether she’ll run in the Breeders’ Cup

“If she gets in, she’ll be there.”