GRADE II, $200,000 SAN PASQUAL STAKES QUOTES

JOCKEY QUOTES

VICTOR ESPINOZA, NEWGRANGE, WINNER: “It was great, I wanted to just bounce out of there and see what everyone wanted to do. I knew I had the best horse in the race, I just rode him with confidence. Riding for Phil, I know that his horses are ready to go and they are going to give 100%, there’s not going to be any shortage in the race. I was able to just bounce out of there, go to the lead and control the race and that was it.

“I was pretty confident the whole way around, not just down the lane. In the end, he kind of lifted his head up a bit, but I kept him busy to make sure we hit the wire, it was a nice ride.

“I didn’t (study) much, I believe the more you study, then your brain might start working at 100 miles an hour and then your mind might be a little bit confused, so just enough to get to know him. I worked him last week, and he worked an unbelievable work. It was my first time on him, and I didn’t know if he was that good of a work horse or he just worked good for me, but that gave me more confidence coming into the race.”

TRAINER QUOTES

PHIL D’AMATO, NEWGRANGE, WINNER: “This was definitely a step up from his last race competition wise. He was coming into this race after probably one of the best breezes he has ever given me, and when Victor breezed him, I had confidence going in and he had confidence going in. It gave me a good feeling that everything was going in the right direction.   

“I think we’d been talking about if he had run a race like this, you now maybe taking a big swing at something like Dubai. It’s going to be even tougher there, but the money is incredible, so we can do something like that. We could stay home, but these guys in the Winner’s Circle, I think they are on board for Dubai.”  

__NOTES: __The winning owners are Rockingham Ranch, David Bernsen LLC and Little Red Feather Racing.