2009 Belmont Stakes Undercard Part 2

By Cindy Pierson Dulay, About.com Guide

Winning jockey John Velazquez said, "We've always liked him. Now he's more mature and ready to roll. He saw the light and started to run. It has taken him some time to grow up and learn what to do but he's shown us he knows."

Trainer Todd Pletcher added, "I liked the way he had been training here, and he came into the race in good shape. It was nice to see him deliver that performance. I thought his comeback race was better than most people thought because it was such a fast race. We talked about strategy a little bit. We felt we would be sitting off the leaders and in the pocket. We thought we would get lucky and get through on the inside. We had to wait longer than we anticipated. When it finally opened up, he accelerated and he kicked in big time. The obvious race we want to be ready for is the King's Bishop. It's a matter of how we get there. I might consider the Dwyer of the spacing."