Sports

NO EXCUSES FOR CURLIN

Here are thoughts from some of the losing jockeys after yesterday’s Belmont Stakes:

Robby Albarado, Curlin, 2nd: I thought I put him in all the right places. He saved ground on both turns. It is where I wanted to be the whole race. I got through on the inside of Hard Spun at the quarter pole, which was perfect, and got a chance to get a breather. They came home fast. Curlin never stopped. I thought at one point he would come back and get her (Rags to Riches) but she is tough. She is an amazing filly.

Curlin put in his race. He ran his race and I was pleased.

Mike Smith, Tiago, 3rd: They were crawling and I was bottled up inside. I wanted to move, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t really get out. I tried to give myself a way out but it was a sprint home. I had to wait for Curlin to make me a spot and we stayed on. It was a great horse race.

Garrett Gomez, Hard Spun, 4th: My main concern was getting him around there for the first five furlongs. He was a little rank, but we went in 50 seconds. At the half-mile pole, I felt I was in a great spot. At the three-eighths pole, I thought I had the money. But when it came time to sprint, he just didn’t have the turn of foot the others had.

Edgar Prado, C P West, 5th: No one wanted to go for the lead, so I asked myself, ‘Why not?’ I sent him and he went up there pretty easily. He was comfortable being there down the backstretch. But in the end, we were outrun by the other horses.

Rafael Bejarano, Slew’s Tizzy, 7th: My horse broke well and I put him in the lead. We were going slow and my horse felt comfortable. After four and a half furlongs, we started getting pressure on the outside. I started asking for run and he started to run. But from the three-eighths, the other horses started passing him pretty easily.