GRADE II, $200,000 JOHN HENRY TURF CHAMPIONSHIP QUOTES 2025

GRADE II, $200,000 JOHN HENRY TURF CHAMPIONSHIP QUOTES

JOCKEY QUOTES

UMBERTO RISPOLI, GOLD PHOENIX, WINNER: “I think the horse to beat today was obviously Stay Hot especially the way he finished last time at Del Mar and, also obviously Mondego as he keeps raising the bar. Those were definitely the two horses to beat ahead of me. I had to decide where I was going to go because we needed to engage outside of Dicey Mo Chara and I was lucky in this case. And, the horse responded well. I really liked him today.”

TRAINER QUOTES

PHILIP D’AMATO, GOLD PHOENIX, WINNER: “My horse is in a good zone right now. We’ll give him two works here and then ship him down to Del Mar. We will give it a go (Breeders’ Cup Turf). He’s coming off two wins in a row now and he’s got extra confidence now. We’ll run with the Euros. I thought Stay Hot might have had better position, but Umberto (Rispoli) made the right moves. He pressed the button at the top of the lane and we got the job done.”

OWNER QUOTES

KEVIN BOGART, STERLING STABLES, PART OWNER, GOLD PHOENIX, WINNER: “And they say he didn’t like Santa Anita. Billy (Koch) and I were watching the race upstairs and we were a little nervous at first when he went a little wide early, but once he tucked in and Umberto had him in hand, we felt really good about him. He’s just a really game horse. (Umberto) a great rider, patient. Took the in-course route and saved the ground, and that’s the story right there.”

NOTES: The winning owners are Agave Racing Stable, Little Red Feather Racing, Sterling Stables LLC and Marsha Naify.