$100,000 SPEAKEASY STAKES QUOTES

JOCKEY QUOTES

JUAN HERNANDEZ, SPEED BOAT BEACH, WINNER: “He’s really fast and he’s a really good horse. The inside horse (Helladic), he kind of broke better than me, but I had the best position outside. I saw the inside horse trying to go, so I just let him go and I let my horse get comfortable because it was his first time on the turf and he was kind of looking around, wanting to see what was going on. Around the three-eighths he switched to the left (lead) and he started to focus and started running to win the race. “He enjoyed it, he was just watching the horse in front of me and just wanted to see everything around him, but he focused, and he started to run by himself, I just let him roll.”

TRAINER QUOTES

BOB BAFFERT, SPEED BOAT BEACH, WINNER: “We filled one of the spots on the plane to Keeneland. I wasn’t sure if he would like the turf or not. I told Juan (Hernandez) that if he doesn’t like the turf, raise your right hand. He hopped at the start of the race. He was a little green and he kept switching leads. At the three-eighths pole, he became serious and took off. This horse has pretty serious speed.”

OWNER QUOTES

MIKE PEGRAM, SPEED BOAT BEACH, WINNER: “You never know if they’re going to like the turf or not, and (Speed Boat Beach) seemed to handle it alright. Juan’s a pro and I think we’ve got a fast horse! I'm very happy to have gone back-to-back in these last races, and we look forward to seeing him race in the Breeders’ Cup (Juvenile Turf Sprint).”

NOTES: The winning owners are Michael Pegram, Karl Watson and Paul Weitman.