BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

October 31, 2025

Irad Ortiz

George Weaver

Reagan Swinback

Del Mar Fairgrounds

Juvenile Turf Sprint

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We're going to start with Irad Ortiz. If you could take us through the race, it looked like you got out pretty cleanly and were in a good position the whole way.

IRAD ORTIZ JR.: Yeah, honestly, I never thought I'm going to be that close. But she broke so good and clean and smooth, without using -- asking her to do anything, she put me right behind the leaders.

I think Wesley's horse was in front of me. He cleared me. After that I just sit there for a few jumps. And I feel like Luis was outside of me and can't keep up the pace.

So I go ahead at the half a mile and let her do her thing. And at the same time she was going the right way. She was going fast but relaxed at the same time. And bide my time, turning for home, I asked her to do her thing and she showed up.

Q. More wins in the race now -- you do a lot of things well obviously with all your success, but four wins in this race now, what does that mean to you?

IRAD ORTIZ JR.: It means a lot. We've been having very good with those 2-year-olds I guess in sprinting. Wesley, I think (indiscernible) with Wesley. And thank God everything fell the right way. And you still need a good treatment and a good horse.

Give (indiscernible) a lot of credit, those horses I've been riding these kind of races. It means a lot to win one of them. Any one this day is great.

Q. What does it mean to be at Breeders' Cup and winning a race like this?

IRAD ORTIZ JR.: It means a lot. Like any race today it's very important for every single one -- owner, trainer, rider, grooms -- I mean, the whole team, the whole staff. I'm pretty sure that the whole staff of George are very happy right now.

It takes a lot to get to this point. Like, everybody has to work as a team. George, I bet he's got the fillies and definitely get to his barn. So it's been a long work and a lot of work to make this happen. I'm just happy to be part of it.

THE MODERATOR: We've got George Weaver and Reagan Swinback. George, how does it feel to have that win under your belt?

GEORGE WEAVER: We've come a couple of times, and they're really tough races to win. You've got to bring the right horse and you've got to have some luck. But it's an exciting thing for me, our team, my family and Cindy. That's why we do what we do.

Q. Reagan, for those who aren't from the greater Houston area, if you could explain the name of this horse, please?

REAGAN SWINBACK: Yes, Cy Fair stands for Cypress Fairbanks, a suburb of the northwest side of Houston where my mom's family is from. My mom went to Cy-Fair High School. And she was wearing the Cy-Fair High School ring of my grandmother, Helen, who we call Mimi.

Today I brought my aunt and uncle, who are from Cy Fair. And honestly it felt pretty good all day. All it takes is a world-class horse, a world-class horse trainer and a world-class jockey and a great trip and it all came together.

Q. You bought this horse at the 2-year-old-in-training sale. What did you like about her to go back and purchase her?

REAGAN SWINBACK: Yeah, so we really liked Not This Time, who is obviously a sire of sires, right? That's pretty obvious. Also the sire of the best horse that our operation with George has had, Sacred Wish, who sells at Fasig in a couple days. By the way, world-class mare. Everyone should buy her.

Highest grossing filly, but Not This Time. Sorry I'll stop there, but please buy her for a lot. And then she had the Crimson Advocate on her dam side, which was another success story for George Weaver, Black Type Thoroughbreds, and Jake Ballis and Maddie Mattmiller and Swinback Stables.

Crimson Advocate went on to win the Queen Mary at Royal Ascot, which I did not attend. And he got real mad at me and Jake did. But she still won.

And so once we solve that pedigree, Jake and Maddie called me and said, I think we need to look at this horse. Weaver was there, George was there, because I think she R&A'ed. They said, George, go take a look at her. George, she went 9-4 kind of on a wrong lead. I think she looks nice.

And the pedigree really sings to our group. So Jake and Maddie called at the right time and I agreed to buy her. And the rest was history.

Q. George, looking ahead to next year, it's a long way away, I know, but would you consider running this filly overseas, especially maybe looking out to Ascot in the UK?

GEORGE WEAVER: Well, we're getting used to making trips over there. She looks fast enough. So I think we will be considering it. We'll see how she comes out of this and probably give her a little break and map out a plan for next year. But she seems like she's good enough to do it if we want to.

Q. George, what was this horse like when she came into the barn? Was she a standout from the start? And what did it take to get her where she is now? She's run three remarkable races, really.

GEORGE WEAVER: I've been lucky enough to train a few Not This Times, and they're forward horses, love what they do. She was very forward, she came in and I told -- when I get horses out of the 2-year-old sale, I don't like to sit on them. I want to go ahead and just put them in training, see how they react to it. If they need time and I see it, then we'll give them the appropriate time. But she was very forward.

I even told Jake and Reagan, early on, I said I might be able to make Ascot with her. She wanted to be a little witchy at the gate. She wasn't tolerating me moving that quickly with her. I had to take my time with her. This horse -trade thing, you have to be patient, but it's paid off.

Q. George, the Woodbine effort, I thought, was extra special. She had some trouble early, overcame that like a professional. Can you talk about that race and how much confidence it gave you coming into today?

GEORGE WEAVER: Well, it was an odd race to watch. I told the jockey not to get into a speed duel, and he made a move with the filly that was unexpected.

He went ahead and took a nice nug (phonetic) hold of her, she dropped out the back. The announcer that day is, Cy Fair, I think everybody was, like, what's going on here. And for a second it wasn't that fun. Cindy, herself, she was saying a few expletives about what was going on.

I said, it's all right, it's all right, let's just see what happens. And when she came around the bend, turned for home and exploded like that, I was, like, wow. It wasn't really a fast pace. He took her off what wasn't a really strong of a pace, and just like when she exploded like that, I was, like, man, we got a real chance over here.

REAGAN SWINBACK: I was watching with my 12-year-old son, Harvey, watching the race in our living room with my son, Harvey. The horse backs up, I get up and leave, say some bad words I think. I walked to my room, which is not far, and my son, Harvey, goes, she's coming, dad, she's coming! And you win by four lengths or whatever it was. It was a fascinating race.

GEORGE WEAVER: Anytime you win, all's well that ends well. It was probably good for her education-wise because in her second race she got sandwiched between two horses down the backside going into the turn. Johnny, who had ridden her in her maiden win, said she just got real tense. She got unsettled in that spot.

To the best of our knowledge, that's the only reason we can figure out why she didn't win that day. For her to realize, hey, I can just chill, go when I want to go, you know, I think it helped her. You know, she's a young horse. She's learning. But she's figured out a lot recently.

I think we need to evaluate how she comes out of it. There's really not a huge regimen of Turf Sprints in the United States for the next few months. I think we're going to evaluate how she does. I'll talk with everybody.

Heck, maybe she can stretch out, I don't know. Crimson Advocate ended being able to stretch out over there this year.

I guess we wouldn't take anything off the table, but we'll let the dust settle and come up with the best plan.

Q. What does it mean to you to have Cindy here with you after everything that's happened for your first Breeders' Cup win?

GEORGE WEAVER: Don't get me crying now, come on.

(Laughter)

She made a trip to Ascot when we won with Crimson Advocate. She's made several trips with us, and it's just great to have her with me for this stuff, really is.