G1 Alabama Quotes

Provided by the New York Racing Association

Todd Pletcher, winning trainer of Nest (No. 4, $2.70*) and third-place Goddess of Fire (No. 2): “That was a special performance today. To see her come back and it seemed like she hardly drew a deep breath. I was a little concerned at the start, she got away in a bit of a tangle. I was hoping we’d get a good position and we ended up getting the position that we wanted. It was a little hairy for the first couple of strides, but after that it was all her.

“She overcome that, put herself in a good spot and then once she got in a comfortable rhythm, they were going an honest pace, but not real fast, and it looked like she was in hand throughout.

“You’re worried about if the start compromised her later in the race, but it didn’t seem to. You got to keep in mind that Wayne’s filly [Secret Oath] is a very good filly, a Kentucky Oaks winner and she made a big run at her. But we got into a comfortable rhythm and had something left.

“The mile and a quarter, it’s perfect for her. She showed it in the Belmont. She stayed that day, she just didn’t get an awesome trip. Not saying she would have beat Mo Donegal, but it would have been close. This race was something we had been thinking about since the Demoiselle.

“This was the right race for her, we felt strongly about it. Four weeks didn’t seem to be an issue. She bounced back out of the Coaching Club [American Oaks] and trained great, put on weight. She’s a pleasure to be around.

 

“These are the ones that when you expect and are expected to win, those are always the highest pressure situations and you just want everything to go smoothly. We knew the filly was doing great and she was going to run her race, she had run well in every start of her life. You just don’t want anything to go run. I love the way she came over. She saddled great and she does everything so professionally.

“It’s at the point now where that’s what you expect from her. It takes a little while to build a resume like that, but she’s run well in every start of her life and I thought this was a special performance today.

“We’ve run a lot of horses in the Belmont and I don’t think I’ve ever had one come out as well as she did.

“Obviously, the Breeders’ Cup is the main target so now we have to figure out if we want to run once in between now and then or how we’ll do it. We’ll assess how she comes out of it first and come up with a game plan.”

Aron Wellman of Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, winning co-owner of Nest (No. 4): “As special as they come. I’ve stood in this grandstand and applauded a lot of champions, but never my own. In the last month, twice now, from the eighth pole to the wire, I’ve applauded Nest. She’s something special and she proved she’s a champion today.

“It’s a testament to her, her talent, her constitution, both physically and mentally. It’s a testament to Todd Pletcher and his program and if it weren’t for partners like Mike Repole and Michael House and all the partners that put faith in the Eclipse program, there’s no way we’d be able to buy a filly like her. To watch her dominate these two races, which is always a very taxing and demanding series here at Saratoga, the way she did it is brilliant.”

Mike Repole of Repole Stable, winning co-owner of Nest (No. 4): “I’m so blessed to be here with so many friends and family. I won these two races in 2015 with Stopchargingmaria. To do that once, you should never do it once, but to do it a second time with a filly like this who is pretty special is, in partnerships with Eclipse Stables and Michael House, it’s a lot of fun. This is a really, really good filly and we put her in the right spot today. I know everyone wanted the Travers, but she’s an Eclipse Award winner now, I think, and I think this is the right route for her and we did what was right for the horse.”

Irad Ortiz, Jr., winning jockey aboard Nest (No. 4): “I can’t be more happier than that. It means a lot [to win this race]. It’s a nice race, a nice filly. What can I say? I’m so happy. I can’t tell you she’s the best filly in the country because we have to respect the other divisions, but honestly, with a clear trip she’s pretty nice. It was a great feeling [turning for home], it was a great feeling. I know she’ll take off. I don’t even have to hit her, I just took care of the filly.

“She stumbled a little bit, but she recovered so fast.”

D. Wayne Lukas, trainer of runner-up Nest (No. 7): “We got outrun. We had a shot at her at the top of the stretch. We had our style today and I thought Luis [Saez] rode a real good race. A little bit slow on the fractions early on. That probably set up for her [Nest] to kick on, but we were supposed to kick on, too. No excuses, we got beat.”

Luis Saez, jockey of runner-up Secret Oath (No. 7): “Ran good. No excuse, really. Perfect spot, good move. She ran pretty good. She got beat by a good filly. She’s alright. She just couldn’t keep up with that one. That filly’s pretty good, Nest.”

Winning margin: 4 1/4-lengths

Final time (1 1/4-miles): 2:03.14

Fractions: 24.39, 49.44, 1:14.37, 1:38.75

Full order of finish: 4-7-2-1-3-5-6