Quotes from the live post position draw for the 149th running of the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers

NYRA RELEASE —-

Chad Brown, trainer of Good Magic (No. 9, 2-1 morning-line favorite) and Gronkowski (No. 3, 4-1 ML second-choice): “I’m real happy with both posts, it’s exactly what I wanted. I wanted Gronkowski inside and Good Magic outside, so we got lucky.

“I’ll have to look at the pace once we handicap the race, but that’s what we wanted, the outside post, just leave out of there and use his [Good Magic’s] speed early, to get a good, forward position. Gronkowski will probably drop behind again and hopefully break a little better than he did in the Belmont.

“They’ve been training terrific, thankfully. Both horses have trained over this track particular well. They are coming off strong works heading into the Travers.”

On Good Magic: “I’d say mile and a quarter would be his limit, but he’s certainly bred for it. I thought he ran a great race in the Derby. If he runs that mile and a quarter race back on Saturday, he’ll be tough.”

On Joel Rosario picking up the jockey assignment for Gronkowski: “It’s always better that has someone who knows the horse and has ridden him before, but it didn’t work out in this race, but we’ve had a lot of luck with Joel. He’s a top rider, especially in a big-money situation like this. He was able to breeze the horse one time already, So I’m happy about that.”

“He’s training sharper in the morning. Whether that leads to a better break out of the gate, we’ll see. He’s definitely more aggressive. Now that we’ve had more time with the horse, we’ve gotten to know him better. I just feel he’s in a nice rhythm right now. He’s been breezing a lot sharper.”

On attempting to win his first Travers: “I’ve been trying to win this race for a while now. To have the top-two choices in the race, you can ‘t be in a better position than that, but it’s a strong field and either of these horses will have the run their “A” race to win, for sure.”

Mark Casse, trainer of Wonder Gadot (No. 2, 5-1 ML): “There were a few reasons [to run in the Travers instead of the Grade 1 Alabama]. One, [owner] Gary Barber is never afraid to step out of the box. We believe the mile and a quarter really suits her. Obviously, she’s also going to get that also in the Alabama. She gets five pounds. We got an extra week off the Prince of Wales, and, voilà. We’re all right with trying to make history.”

On how a Travers victory might bolster Wonder Gadot’s Eclipse credentials: “We just want to win the Travers. I’m really not that worried about Monomoy Girl right now. I think, honestly, we would have to do more than just win the Travers. Monomoy Girl has done so much, so we’re just wanting to win the Travers, make history, and then whatever happens from then, hopefully, in a perfect world, we’ll meet again the Breeders’ Cup, but right now we’re just focusing on Saturday.”

On the post position: “Honestly, I would have liked to have been a little father out. I know the No. 1 horse [Trigger Warning], he looks like he has got speed, and there is some speed outside of her. She’s pretty versatile and she’s tough, so as long as she breaks good she’s going to be up close, and, maybe she’ll save a little ground, and, hopefully, get lucky.”

D. Wayne Lukas, trainer of Bravazo (No. 4, 12-1): “You know what I think, we talk about it, it makes good press, it gets to fill the last paragraph on the main edition, but seriously, we’re more concerned as trainers to who is on either side of us. If there’s speed inside, speed outside, who’s riding and whatever it be to how we drew.

“I don’t think anything will be easy, but I think he’ll make it a little bit workable for us. I think we’ll be able to get away and get position, and we got a horse that has good tactical speed, and he’ll keep everybody honest.

“He’s made every dance, the Triple Crown, then to the Haskell and now to the Travers, but surprisingly he’s following a pattern much like Will Take Charge, he’s gained weight, he’s working better, I think he’s better right now, and we all get up here and lie to you, but I really honestly think he’s better right now then I’ve had him at any other time. He’s put on some weight, he’s more aggressive, he’s more mature, so I think we’re going to get the best effort, although I have great respect for every horse in the race, and I know how tough it is. I think we’re going to get his best effort.

“I think the mile and a quarter will definitely be well within his scope, and a little rain will help too. We don’t have to worry about that Chris Kay has told us all the tickets have sold.”

Todd Pletcher, trainer of Vino Rosso (No. 5, 10-1): “I’m hoping he’ll show a little more speed than he did in the Jim Dandy and put himself in a reasonable position.

“We have been working on it. He’s a horse that has some concentration issues and he doesn’t care for much moisture in the track either and I think on Jim Dandy Day, we still had quite a bit of moisture, and he didn’t run well in the [Kentucky] Derby on it. Having had the opportunity to obviously see him train a lot on it this meet, he doesn’t seem to care for a lot of moisture in the track. I think that was part of the reason why he dropped back [in the Jim Dandy]. He made up some ground on the backside and then lost that ground again in the turn. Finally he got a clear path and was able to close well, but you can’t make that kind of mistake in this race.

“At the seven-, six-furlong pole, I said we had no chance and then by the half-mile pole, I thought, maybe he’s getting involved now, but then he dropped back and I kind of wrote it off. I was surprised he was able to get up for third at that point.

“He’s had two good sharp works and I think he’s training as well as he ever has His last work was over a track that was maybe a little bit dry in the morning because they were expecting some rain, and he handled it really well. Hopefully, the forecast is right and we’ll get a dry track for him.

“I think a mile and a quarter suits him well and I think if we had ridden him a little different in the Belmont, he might’ve stayed on a mile and a half. Johnny [Velazquez] made a decision at the half-mile pole that he had to go up there and try to put some pressure on Justify and I think that compromised his finish a little bit, but I don’t think the distance is any issue for him.”

Dale Romans, trainer of King Zachary (No. 7, 15-1): “I love the post position. The horse is doing great, or we wouldn’t be here. He had a little problem. He did bleed in the Indiana Derby and I don’t know what caused it or why, but he’s come back, he’s breezed well, he looks good, he’s doing good. We’re not expecting that to happen again.”

“The two off races on his form, the one common denominator is that I shipped in for the race, so we made sure to get up here early. As soon as they let us on the track we’ve been training here for a month and he seems to really like it. He’s doing very well.”

“He’s by Curlin, so his pedigree says the further he goes the better. That’s the way he trains and that’s the way he seems to me. I always thought he had enough speed to be up close, but there’s a little bit of speed in here so I’m just going to leave it up to [jockey] Robby [Albarado]. If it’s slow early he’ll be up close, if not he’ll lay back and try to make one run. But I do think the mile and a quarter will help him a lot.”

“Robby’s my go-to rider, and he’s as good as anybody in the country. He knows this racetrack, he’s ridden here enough. He’s 42 years old, he’s ridden a long time; he doesn’t need to practice. He knows the horse and he gives us the best chance to win.”

“Coach Wayne Lukas told me, I don’t know if he even remembers, about 20 years ago walking out of here that he’s made millions of dollars running horses where people said he didn’t belong. Trust your instinct, trust your gut, and trust your horse how he’s training. This horse is doing well.”

“This is such an enormous event. We’re 15-1, but to be 15-1 in the Travers? A lot of people would take that. I could go buy yearlings all day long if I promised people they’d be 15-1 in the Travers. It’s great to be a part of this event, it’s great to be here in New York. The Travers a couple of years ago was really good to us. It’s a mile and a quarter, great race, and anything can happen. We’ve got a horse doing well, going into it good, and I’m going to listen to the Coach and run the horse where a lot of people think he shouldn’t be.”

Jonathan Thomas, trainer of Catholic Boy (No. 11, 8-1): “You only get so many chances as a 3-year-old to run a mile and a quarter on the dirt two times. I think early on he was going through a bit of a growth spurt. Now, we’re bringing a bit of a maturer, stronger young horse. We kind of owe it to him and the clients to give him a shot. It could have significant ramifications in the stud arena and that’s part of our jobs as trainers.”

On drawing the 11 post: “We’ll leave race tactics up to Javier [Castellano]. I’d like to break out of there running and establish good position, but it depends on what kind of pace scenario develops going into the first turn. One of the first things I said about the post is we can keep his face clean, we have that opportunity. Because it’s setback an eighth of a mile past the wire, you get a long time to get to the first turn and I think things will stretch out a little bit. It’s not going to be a cavalry charge.”

Should Catholic Boy win the Travers what’s next?: “I think with the Breeders’ Cup Classic being a mile and a quarter on the dirt and that being his preferred distance right now that would make the most logical sense instead of tackling losers at a mile and a half [Breeders’ Cup Turf] or at a mile on the turf [Breeders’ Cup Turf Mile] against Europeans so ideally that would be the scenario.”

On looking forward to Saturday: “Absolutely, it’s a privilege to get into the gate . Doesn’t really matter what post it’s a lot of work to get there and I’m just proud to be here.”

Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen of Tenfold (No. 10, 8-1) and Meistermind (No. 6, 30-1): “Being 10 of 11, into the first turn you have a little more of a run. They don’t run many mile and a quarter races here so we’re not used to that. It shouldn’t be that big of a factor. I think he’s actually doing better than he was going into the Jim Dandy. We’re excited about our chances. [Meistermind] got an excellent post. It’s just a matter of if he’s good enough.”

Other entrants: Mendelssohn (No. 8, 12-1 ML, trained by Aidan O’Brien and ridden by Ryan Moore) and Trigger Warning (No. 1, 3-1 ML, trained by Mike Rone and ridden by Irwin Rosendo).