Jockey/Trainer Quotes form the non-winners

Churchill Downs put out a release that provides quotes from each jockey and trainer from the horses that finished second through 20th in Saturday's Derby.  A few of the highlights:

John Sadler on Sidneys Candy: "He just wouldn't relax. The pace was fast and he wouldn't relax off that horse (leader Conveyance). He used up all his energy."  [Matt: That was the overriding concern with this horse going in (that and the surface switch) and it apparently was his undoing, in the opinion of Sadler.]

Alan Garcia on Stately Victor: "My horse didn't seem to like the track. He had a good trip."  [Again, I don't know that his is a surprise considering he'd done all his best work on tracks other than dirt]    

Jose Lezcano on Ice Box: "The horse didn't break that good and had to check a little at the break. At the half-mile pole, he started running, but I didn't want to go wide in a 20-horse field. I had to check at the quarter-pole,but he came again and made a big run." [This has got to be the money quote of the weekend for the simple fact that his decision to initially go inside probably cost him a chance to win.  Furthermore, while I can understand his thought process of not wanting to go wide in a 20-horse field it's not like he would have been 20 wide.  He probably would have been six or seven wide...which is what he was when he finally switched his horse out and made a run.] 

Miguel Mena on Backtalk: "I had a great trip and everything went good. Good break, no problems at all.My horse is a really nice horse, a very good horse, but I don't think he wanted to go this distance. He made it all the way to the Derby and proved he's a great horse." [Not to be too picky here, but I wouldn't call Backtalk a "great horse".  He's a nice horse that had a very good juvenile campaign but he's certainly not great.  Maybe he will be at some point, but he just lost the Illinois Derby by 14 lengths and the Kentucky Derby by 70...let's not get carried away.]   

Julien Leparoux on Awesome Act: "I was where I wanted to be and he was relaxed. He just didn't fire.That's it." [Understatement of the weekend.]   

Ken McPeek on Noble's Promise: "We talked a lot about waiting with this horse and not passing horses until the eighth-pole. Willie (Martinez) said he felt he was cruising, so he let him take the lead at the quarter-pole. We passed the 10 horse (Paddy O'Prado) and then he came back and passed us, so maybe we just need to admit he's a miler. But a darned good one."    [Doubt we see any more of Noble in the Triple Crown races given this assessment by McPeek.]

You can read all the quotes in this press release from Churchill Downs: Kentucky Derby quotes