THOR’S ECHO STAKES QUOTES

JOCKEY QUOTES

UMBERTO RISPOLI, PRIVATE GEM, WINNER: “I thought we were in a good spot, no matter if someone went with Book Smart or not. He really responded on the turn. At the sixteenth pole, he started looking around, but he got back to business. He’s a pretty nice horse and Mark (Glatt) has done an amazing job with him going from grass to dirt. He was traveling really well on the turn and I was waiting to see what Mike (Smith) was going to do. Once the rail opened up, we took off.”

MIKE SMITH, BOOK SMART, THIRD: “Too fast, way too fast. He puts a lot into his races, kind of shows that on his form. Hard to put three or four of those in a row when you’re that fast. It is what it is. Thought I was going to make an easy lead.”

TRAINER QUOTES

MARK GLATT, PRIVATE GEM, WINNER: “I think he had a really nice set up. We were hoping that somebody would go with Book Smart because when he shakes loose on the lead he is hard to beat. We got lucky they went fast, and he had to unhook that Book Smart. Umberto (Rispoli) rode a perfect race, saved the ground and they floated off the turn a little to continue to save ground. I think he got to goofing around a little in the stretch, but he ran well. “Anytime these Cal-Bred stakes come along it is nice to have a horse that is just as good on dual surfaces. After today I’m not so sure he isn’t better on the dirt, he runs well either way and is just a really hard trying horse and obviously has some talent to go along with it.”

NOTES: The winning owners are Saints or Sinners. Private Gem was bred by C-Punch Ranch Inc.