GRADE III, SANTA MARIA STAKES QUOTES

GRADE III, SANTA MARIA STAKES QUOTES

JOCKEY QUOTES

EMISAEL JARAMILLO, SIMPLY JOKING, WINNER: “To me it was a two-horse race. I decided if J.J. (Juan Hernandez on Nafisa) took the lead I would just sit second. But my horse broke better, so we went to the front. She was super comfortable all the way around.”

TRAINER QUOTES

MICHAEL MCCARTHY, SIMPLY JOKING, WINNER: “I thought we had a legitimate excuse last time. She had trained super for this, I just told Emisael to bounce out of there and try to keep her face clean and he did exactly that. I think we caught a little bit of a break when Juan (aboard Nafia) decided not to engage. We found ourselves on an easy lead turning up the backside. This was good today; it gives us a lot of options. I mean somewhere between seven-eighths to a mile and a sixteenth. The way she ran today maybe a mile and an eighth even, but we will take them as they come.”  

NOTES: The winning owners are Berkels0813 LLC, CMNWLTH, LLC, Grantley Acres and Ryan Conner.