GRADE I, $300,000 AMERICAN PHAROAH STAKES QUOTES 2025

GRADE I, $300,000 AMERICAN PHAROAH STAKES QUOTES

JOCKEY QUOTES

HECTOR I. BERRIOS, INTREPIDO, WINNER: “It was a bit of a complicated race at the start. I tried to go to the front, but I saw Juan (on favorite Desert Gate) break first, so I settled into second. From the first turn, I had to ease back a little. And again around 600 meters I had to hold. When I made my move to the outside he responded, although not very strongly at first. But when I asked him again, he responded and produced an impressive change of pace and flew down the final stretch. He’s an amazing horse. I’m very proud of the effort he showed today.”

JUAN HERNANDEZ, DESERT GATE, SECOND: “He was traveling very comfortably and so well. He gave me everything he had. He opened up a couple lengths. It was the first time he was going a mile and a sixteenth so it was a little long for him the first time. He’s young and he’s got a lot of races to come and a lot of victories as well.”

TRAINER QUOTES

JEFF MULLINS, INTREPIDO, WINNER: “Well we weren’t quite sure what was in his head this time around. (In his last start), he broke, took the lead by himself and Hector just went with him. Everything worked out fine. But we knew if we went to the lead today we were going to get into a dogfight and that was one thing I was trying hard to avoid. I just asked Hector, ‘Do you think this horse can rate?’ He said, ‘No problem.’ “He’s a nice horse, a really nice horse.”

NOTES: The winning owners are Dutch Girl Holdings, LLC or Irving Ventures, LLC.