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BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS


October 27, 2001


Michael Cooper

Lanfranco Dettori

Chris McCarron

Jay Robbins


ELMONT, NEW YORK

ERIC WING: We have in the room the victorious trainer in the Breeders' Cup Classic for the second year running, Tiznow, trainer, Jay Robbins. Congratulations and hard to put into words what that must have felt like, in many ways almost an eerie replay of last year with Tiznow digging in for a long stretch drive against an European challenger. This time it looked like Sakhee was actually in front of Tiznow as opposed to last year where Tiznow never let Giants Causeway go by. How did you view the stretch way from your perch in the clubhouse?

JAY ROBBINS: He could get back to Sakhee. He's game. Very game.

ERIC WING: Chris McCarron has joined us also. Chris, it certainly looked on television as if Sakhee at least maybe a neck on Tiznow, how far in front in fact was Sakhee and what was the feeling on Tiznow when you were in the midst of that dual?

CHRIS McCARRON: It was too far for my comfort. I don't know the exact margin. It was probably a neck or so. To be perfectly frank, I thought I was riding for second money when we approached the eighth pole. There was a pretty good battle going between the three of us as we straightened out. When Sakhee went by me so readily and with so much momentum I thought I was riding for second money.

ERIC WING: Do we have questions for the guests?

Q. What can you say about this horse's great resolve?

CHRIS McCARRON: I don't have a good enough vocabulary to describe his resolve. He is absolutely awesome.

ERIC WING: Chris, how did Tiznow behave during the race, looked like he paused momentarily, but looked like the good Tiznow rather than the bad Tiznow in terms of his post parade. And did he detect anything different about him just leading up to the race as opposed to his previous two efforts?

CHRIS McCARRON: I didn't share this with Jay before the race. My buddy Jay gets nervous enough as it is. I was more concerned with the post parade and staying on his back. I ride a bit shorter in the afternoon than I do the morning. Consequently, I drop my stirrup four or five holes. Just so that if he pulled the antics that he does in the morning, he wouldn't as easily get me off his back. He warmed up brilliantly. He balked a little bit as we made the turn for the cameras, and he stopped and he raised his head and started to go behind the pony and that was the only time he did anything. Once I felt the impulsion he was moving forward, I told the pony boy, let's go. I could feel the forward motion from that point forward. He was fantastic.

ERIC WING: I've been remiss in not introducing Michael Cooper, the owner of Tiznow. Michael last year's Cecilia Straub Rubens was by your side. This year she wasn't. As we all know, how often -- well, perhaps not during the stretch run when you were just rooting for victory, but thereafter, did Cecilia come into your mind.

MICHAEL COOPER: Immediately, yeah. She was such a special lady and a special friend of mine and, you know, I certainly wish she had been here. I think Tiz knew in spirit she was here. The way he came back in that race and gutted it out right down the line kind of like the way she was, too. I thought about her immediately. Thanked her again.

Q. Jay, I know how frustrating you said this last couple of weeks have been, trying to figure out what Tiznow is all about. Is it because of these very quirks that he's a good horse?

JAY ROBBINS: I don't know. Chris would be able to tell you more about that. We've seen similar behavior. What do you think? Is he a better horse because he has those quirks?

CHRIS McCARRON: I think of the 47,000 foals born each year, maybe more than 30,000 get to the training stages. I would say there are probably several hundred horses around the country that misbehave in this fashion. But it's the good ones that get the headlines. Good ones that get the attention. Because they're so good and so accomplished, stories are written about their behavior. Nobody writes about a $10,000 claimer that wants to stand on the track and look and doesn't want to go at first. There's a lot of horses that behave this way.

Q. Chris, can you describe what feeling you got from Tiznow when Sakhee was ahead of him, what body language you got he was going to go after him?

CHRIS McCARRON: When I first pushed the button about the three-furlong pole, I did get a jump forward at first. I didn't get a feeling of acceleration that I'm used to with him. I didn't get any -- I didn't get any deceleration feeling, but I didn't get that typical nice burst that I got last year at Churchill Downs. Then when Sakhee got to my hip, Tiznow saw him before I did. And I felt an acceleration at that point and I said, oh, good, I got the response because when I first asked him to run, he just -- he's very strong-minded or willed, maybe wasn't ready to go yet. He's always ready to go when the competition comes out. In spite of the fact Sakhee got by him, he did accelerate when Sakhee got to him. Sakhee had a great deal of momentum and good head of steam up. Tiznow out-gamed him and you used the word before, he had more resolve.

ERIC WING: Any added excitement with the Europeans taking three straight races? Did you feel like you were defending the Nation's honor in the way and coming back to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat?

CHRIS McCARRON: It's always nice to win. The Europeans take the worse of it coming over here. They're really to be commended for running Sakhee on dirt. They're really to be commended with each and every horse they bring to the United States.

Q. Could any or all of you reflect on having the first horse to win the Breeders' Cup Classic twice?

CHRIS McCARRON: Answer that.

MICHAEL COOPER: Is there a rule against three?

CHRIS McCARRON: I was fortunate enough to win a lot of nice races for pretty handy trainers, Charlie Whittingham. He would be very proud of this guy here knowing that he pulled it off. This is a feat that very few people would be capable of. Charlie would certainly be one of them, I had a tremendous amount of pleasure and great privilege to ride for him. He's looking down at Jay right now. I know he's smiling.

JAY ROBBINS: Saying quit smoking.

ERIC WING: You're all welcome to be diplomats if you like, but you know you did win the Big Cap in March, you've just won the Breeders' Cup Classic for the second time. You danced several dances and very few off races, maybe some thought they were off by Tiznow's standards, but they were still fine efforts. Do you think Tiznow deserves to be Horse of the Year given what Point Given's accomplished? How do you see that race?

CHRIS McCARRON: The only thing against Point Given is the fact that he never beat older horses. In fact, I thought going into the beginning of today that if Officer would win impressly, I could see him win being named Horse of the Year. Regardless Tiznow won and what Point Given had done through the year. I don't know. Tiznow is awfully conservative.

JAY ROBBINS: I have something to add. Is Horse of the Year based on overall accomplishment or is it based on the best horse? Who's the fastest, the best horse that is the toughest to beat when you put them on the racetrack? Obviously they never had the chance to run against each other. But I would welcome the opportunity too late now, but I think that you have to look long and hard at who they ran against and what they did rather than winning more races.

ERIC WING: Michael, anything to add?

MICHAEL COOPER: He's the horse of my life. I'm not going to worry about the year.

ERIC WING: More questions for --

Q. Will you retire him now?

ERIC WING: Are you retiring Tiznow now?

MICHAEL COOPER: Want me to handle that?

JAY ROBBINS: It's your horse.

MICHAEL COOPER: Well, I think if Tiznow comes out of this race sound, I think we want to go for another year. I mean, he's a racehorse, and there are plenty of times to do other things. If we can keep him sound and happy, I think he'll be a racehorse for another year.

Q. You've said that you've had such high expectations for this horse. You feel he could be the best horse you've ever ridden. In the wake of this win today, can you reflect back on that and how you feel about them and what makes him special?

ERIC WING: Can you reflect on Tiznow vis-a-vis some of the other great horses you've ridden what this particular about Tiznow points him out as so special?

CHRIS McCARRON: I just wish that Tiznow would go, go out there and run like he did in the Santa Anita Handicap and just get down and run as fast as he possibly can from the head of lane to the wire and show the world what he's capable of doing. He wins photos, but he obviously gives us all heart failure. But he's not quite putting on 100 percent in these races. I don't know if he's -- I don't know if he's giving me 95 percent, 98 percent or 80 percent. But I know it's not 100. And I'm just longing for the day that he pulls a Secretariat and wins by 31.

ERIC WING: Apparently it was reported somewhere that you give Tiznow vodka on occasion. Is that true? And if so, did you give him vodka at some point this week and what effect --

JAY ROBBINS: I had considered giving him some money. That's an old trick giving the horse some alcohol to relax him more after he jogged on Sunday because he was pretty fractious, but liquor stores are closed on Sunday and he showed a lot of improvement on Monday morning when he galloped his behavior. So we didn't give him anything.

ERIC WING: For the record, next time you come to New York, they open after 12 noon.

Q. So, much like last year's race especially with European going down the stretch together, could you compare last year's race to this year's?

ERIC WING: Compare last year's race to this year's, especially with regard to the stretch drives in both races.

JAY ROBBINS: I had more confidence because Giants Causeway had to catch him last year and Sakhee got about a neck in front of him today, so I had more confidence because I didn't think he'd ever let Giants Causeway go by last year.

ERIC WING: Was there ever a point, even a split second in your own mind, where you kind of conceded victory? It looked like Sakhee might just draw away with the momentum he had. The thought go through your mind, well, we're not going to get all the money, but boy he ran well?

JAY ROBBINS: I thought that, well, he gave it another terrific try. I don't think today.

ERIC WING: And Chris, can a jockey ever afford to have a thought like that go through your mind in a race? Does it go through your mind or is that stuff for later?

JAY ROBBINS: Well, I already admitted I thought I was running for second money at the eighth pole. Thoughts go like that through your mind. It's difficult to prevent that from happening, but that is a loss of focus and that's something we have to combat when we're out there. We have to stay zeroed in and focused on your task at hand. Occasionally you can have a thought like that and not miss a beat. Sometimes it does interfere. I don't think it interfered today, but there -- it can. It's -- Michael Jordan going up for a layup, he can easily be distracted by everything around him, but he's not because he's focused. I didn't mean to do that. I didn't mean to compare myself to Michael Jordan. Athletic endeavor is what I'm trying to say. That's it.

ERIC WING: Chris, from upstairs, and you may have touched upon this earlier but the press box lost us briefly, in the past you've said that Tiznow on occasion gives 85 to 90 percent effort, why is that, best you can tell, and clearly this was 110 percent?

CHRIS McCARRON: Well, with the -- it could have been 110 percent today. But then again, I don't know for sure. All I know is that when I come back after a race on him, he has so much strength left, so much energy left and so much bounce and spring in his leg I can definitely feel when a horse is fatigued after a race when he's coming back. This horse just doesn't do that. Let me correct myself, after the Goodwood, I told Jay after the race he came back a little tired and I blamed that on myself because I didn't give him the proper warmup. I only jogged him for a little over a furlong that day. He was misbehaving. He wheeled a bunch of times and I didn't want to be unseated. I let him do what he wanted to do and I didn't give him a very good warmup. And that's counterproductive, not warming a horse up properly. It's counterproductive to go out into a strenuous exercise like this. He gallops out so strong after his races. He leaves his company behind. I always feel like there's more there.

Q. Can you folks talk about racing in New York today after all that's gone on in the last couple of months, the emotion of the day, is that part of your day, security part of your day?

ERIC WING: Can you talk about racing in New York today after all that's gone on in the last couple of months in this area? Any special feelings.

LANFRANCO DETTORI: Are you retiring the horse next year? Well done, congratulations.

ERIC WING: Frankie Dettori joining us congratulating his fellow riders. The more the merrier. But to answer the question that was asked, any special feelings about riding in New York in the previous Breeders' Cup's Champion given what's gone on?

LANFRANCO DETTORI: For yours, yes, actually because one stage look it could have been off. First of all, the Maktoum family decided to go ahead and send the horses here, plus the fact they gave the prize money to the families of the September 11th disaster and it's great we picked up some money and it's all going to go to the fund and racing went on and looked ahead. We're going to beat this thing. The only thing we can do is carry on our jobs, be proud of it, and make us a better world to live in. It's been a great success. Don't you think so? It's been a great thing.

ERIC WING: Frankie, earlier in the week you were very honest in answering questions about where you thought Fantastic Light should go and where Sakhee should go. You all but said that, cast your ballot in favor the opposite way it turned out. The end result is a win by Fantastic Light in the turf, in the toughest of tough beats in the Breeders' Cup Classic with Sakhee. I take it that Fantastic Light's victory was no surprise. Were you surprised at Sakhee's effort in the Classic?

LANFRANCO DETTORI: The only reason I said early on in the week I didn't want the pair crash together, I wanted to make sure the pair were going to split and, you know, didn't matter who was going to run in the turf. They're both superstars and obviously with the likes of Galileo to the Classic, he left the turf wide open and when I was looking at the ratings this morning, Fantastic Light was ten pounds above everybody else in the field. The only way I was going to lose is fall off him. Sakhee was going to be the same thing. Godolphin split the horses and they both ran great. When you have races like that and they live up to the expectations, even if I lost. It was a great race and for a horse like Sakhee only run a few weeks ago and to take on the best American horses to the dirt and run. It must have been a great effort. In my heart he's still the winner to me, even if he lost. It's been a great race and, unfortunately, had to be a loser.

ERIC WING: Did you think you had the race won in mid stretch?

LANFRANCO DETTORI: When I did. When I went by Chris --

JAY ROBBINS: Tiznow.

LANFRANCO DETTORI: -- when I went by Chris, furlong and a half to go, a good neck up, I thought my horse stays a mile and a half. He's a very hard horse to get by, was more worried perhaps somebody coming from the outside. When I couldn't shake him off, full credit to Tiznow. He fought hard. I felt my horse the last 50 yards. He gave me everything. He had no more else to give. Tiznow just got back and got me back. It's a real shame but unfortunate to be a loser. It was great even in defeat.

ERIC WING: This may be an impossible question to answer, what the heck, we have both jockeys standing right here, did you feel it was more a case of Sakhee getting tired or Tiznow reaching down for something extra?

LANFRANCO DETTORI: I felt I went by him. If I kept that momentum going, it would have been a foregone conclusion. Went by my neck twice, the rhythm of Tiznow. And full credit to Tiznow. He knuckled down and fought me back. I felt once I couldn't shake him off, already my petro gauge was going into empty, I knew I was there to be shot at. Tiznow's got a great reputation and a head like a dinosaur. I knew I had to get by by half a length to beat him sure.

ERIC WING: More questions for anybody up front? Gentlemen, congratulations to all of you, all four of you are winners up there. Great job today. Thanks for putting on a great show.

End of FastScripts...

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