135TH BELMONT STAKES

June 7, 2003

Jerry Bailey

Justin Bailey

John Chandler

Bobby Frankel

DR. JOHN CHANDLER: It's absolutely marvelous. We tried a couple of years ago with Aptitude and got beaten. We thought we'd have a pretty good shot this year. Bobby was extremely confident throughout and he was right and it feels absolutely marvelous. It's been a long time. As much people will be aware, most of our horses have been good horses on the grass and it's finally good to have an absolutely outstanding dirt horse. We've had one or two before, but nothing at this age of this caliber, very exciting.

DR. JOHN CHANDLER: Nobody watches the race with Bobby. I don't think Bobby ever really -- he watches races on his own.

DR. JOHN CHANDLER: Usually. Usually he hides somewhere and watches -- he watches it by himself. But I thought halfway through the race when we were right up side we were going very easily, but they weren't going particularly fast. But I knew he could handle Funny Cide then on even terms and then just towards the end, when Wally's Horse came up on the outside, maybe a little bit got me bit of concern, but once Empire Maker saw him pick up at the end as he had in the Wood Memorial, and I was -- after that, there was no question. And I was just pleased that Funny Cide wasn't second. So they couldn't blame me entirely. I could share the blame for messing up Funny Cide's Triple Crown.

DR. JOHN CHANDLER: I ask Bobby what to do and he tells me. No, you know, one of the questions he gets asked ad nauseum or ad infinitum, why there aren't anymore Triple Crown winners than there are. It's awfully tough on a horse to run three major races in five weeks. Having run in the Derby, I presume it was natural, Bobby had another horse he wanted to run in the Preakness, so it was natural that we keep the horse for the Belmont. As I said, there's not much decision-making. I ask Bobby what we're going to do and he tells me. Is that right?

BOBBY FRANKEL: That's exactly right.

BOBBY FRANKEL: I've ran in two others and finished second to finally win one. It was nice. And more so for the horse. I just wanted to prove that he was the best horse.

BOBBY FRANKEL: I'm thinking in the long-term with this horse, and it's not my style to run back in two weeks if I don't have to. If he won the Derby I would have done it. I'm looking ahead. We got all the races later in the year. I figure the best interest of the horse we give him the time off.

BOBBY FRANKEL: Actually, I didn't learn anything. It looked like it was playing pretty fair today, so I don't know, maybe the outside was better. I got beat in another race that by a horse that got outside of me. I think it was plain (inaudible.)

DR. JOHN CHANDLER: I knew I had Funny Cide. I got little anxious moments when Ten Most Wanted ran up to him there. My horse, he has a tendency to wait and when he felt that horse coming and he saw him, I took off again.

BOBBY FRANKEL: Dr. Chandler spoke to him about four and a half minutes ago. He said he wasn't going to go to bed until you called me back. He was very excited. He was very disappointed in the Derby, you know. We built the horse up pretty much and he was disappointed, you know. He's not a good loser. As the man said, show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser. He doesn't take losing well. He doesn't get upset, doesn't blame anybody, rant or rave. He's disappointed because he likes to win. And he's very excited about winning this race.

DR. JOHN CHANDLER: Yes, they had good coverage. In fact, his own television network was covering the race and so he saw the whole thing, including the previous race where Bobby beat us with one of his other horses.

BOBBY FRANKEL: Well, I got beat two noses here in the Manhattan Handicap. So I went back to my old spot in the racing office to watch the last two races.

DR. JOHN CHANDLER: Yes.

BOBBY FRANKEL: Yes.

BOBBY FRANKEL: Wasn't to me, I think it was to the mayor.

BOBBY FRANKEL: You know what, I don't feel bad right now tell you the truth. I feel great and I won the race and that's what I wanted, and I was really, really confident and thinking about the race all week long. I didn't think I could get beat, to be honest with you. You like to be right once in a while, we're wrong so much in this business.

BOBBY FRANKEL: What happened in the Derby? What happened in the Derby was I played it real close because I'm thinking ahead on this and that. I didn't really train him too hard. The whole thing was when he missed that training and the way I trained him till that week, it was too much for him to overcome. Like I said, like they call do over, if I could do it over again, he would have won the Derby.

DR. JOHN CHANDLER: Not really. I haven't walked in the streets yet. See what happened with two people out there.

BOBBY FRANKEL: At least I'm from New York anyway, and the horse's named Empire Maker, like Empire State, you know.

BOBBY FRANKEL: I was hoping he would go to the lead, be honest. I was hoping. Somebody go on the lead and we'd have somebody to follow. When Jerry made that turn to the first turn, I was comfortable after that. It's not like I went zero for 50. I've been in two other Belmonts. I was seconds in most the Derby, only ran in three Derbys. This was my fourth one and I have tattoo second. So it's not like I haven't done well there. So I wasn't worried about that.

JERRY BAILEY: Thanks. I think it's got to start in the paddock. I walked in, Bobby said to me, you ride him like you want to ride him. I hadn't thought on paper. This horse had broken well almost every time. In fact, probably on the lead, and I had to reel him back off the lead. My intention was to let him run if he broke well. He'd win, going into the turn, if I thought somebody was going to entertain Funny Cide and started to look rank, I would take back at that point and decide what I wanted to do. It was obviously Scrimshaw was there and started to take back. Funny Cide had already locked on to Jose pretty well. This is what I want. I want Funny Cide locking on so he's not relaxed. I'll be able to pounce on him when I turn the backside. That's how it worked.

BOBBY FRANKEL: It's great. I'm still kind of disappointed the horse wasn't going for the Triple Crown. I really think he had the makings to do that. I still do. But you can't go back. Things happen beyond anybody's control. He bruised his foot. I think if he chose the 5 hole and 12 hole, I wouldn't have lost that much ground. That's the difference. That's history. I rode the race today like he was the best horse and he proved it.

BOBBY FRANKEL: When I turned up the backside, I knew I had Funny Cide. Because he was pulling on Jose and my horse was very relaxed and that's the whole key, going a mile and a half, to have your horse relax. If they pull you on all the way, they have nothing left in the turn going home.

JERRY BAILEY: When I saw him, I didn't know how fast he was running. It's pretty hard to explode at the eighth pole after you have gone a mile three after. I know my horse was going around a little bit. His personally to do that stuff. I wasn't that worried. As he got closer Empire Maker picked it up on his own.

BOBBY FRANKEL: I was worried.

JERRY BAILEY: Well, I'd like to say I ride here every day, that doesn't matter. We don't go a mile and a half here very often. The more you can do those things, the better sense you get for how to ride a race like that. We do go mile and a half turf races many times a year. That, in itself, gives you a little bit of experience. But, you know, you know this track very well. There's some statements made Jose, he knows the track. I'm based here, too, and I know it pretty well myself. I haven't made too many mistakes here. I was confident going in I wouldn't mess it up. Bailey when I pulled up, I told the outrider. I said this is a good horse, probably going to show it's a great horse. It would be a shame if they booed it. I know the sentiment of the fans. I think they were more disappointed Funny Cide didn't win and mad at Empire Maker for winning.

JERRY BAILYE: Trying to get him to turn around. Half of them did. Seems like you hear the boos more than the cheers.

DR. JOHN CHANDLER: You know, going back a few years, most of the top stallions in this country, the stud horses that made the money at the sales were European stud horses. Blushing Groom, Riverman, and horses like that. We always bred to so-called dirt horses, but race, because our primary racing operation is in Europe, we have more and more started breeding to some dirt horses with a view to winning the Triple Crown. Even though Toussaud the damn of Empire Maker herself was a grass filly and her other two Grade 1 winners have been on the turf. She has a Seattle Slew filly that won a Grade 1 and now Empire Maker won three Grade 1s on the dirt, you know, we bred her back to (inaudible), this year with a view toward producing classic type dirt horses.

BOBBY FRANKEL: Am I going to train this one?

DR. JOHN CHANDLER: Depends, unfortunately. It will be about four years from now.

DR. JOHN CHANDLER: He's in England.

BOBBY FRANKEL: Not really. This was another race. It was a great race. I really wanted to win it, but more so for the horse cause the press, you know, they get down on horses, and I thought, let me get him back on top again, so if he won this race, we're all witness to what a great horse he is.

DR. JOHN CHANDLER: I thought he should be a favorite, to be honest with you. I think good handicappers bet on this horse. I think the general public make sentiment made that other horse the favorite.

BOBBY FRANKEL: Probably do the same thing I did with Medaglia d'Oro, run him in the Travers, same schedule.

BOBBY FRANKEL: You know horse racing. I was very, very confident. I had no doubt in my mind?

JUSTIN BAILEY: It was a great race.

JUSTIN BAILEY: Triple Crown race, it's really a special race.

BOBBY FRANKEL: I blew it this year, but I take a little blame for it myself, to be honest. I got a little over confident and didn't work out, hopefully I'll have another chance with another horse and hopefully I can do it.

BOBBY FRANKEL: I would plan on winning the Derby, wouldn't worry about the rest of the races. I was looking ahead. It's like a team in basketball looking ahead to the number one seed two games away and they look past the weaker team. That's what happened with me.

JERRY BAILEY: I don't know if it was my plan to attack him. It was my plan to at least make him run semi-hard into the first turn. I thought my horse was tactical enough in leaving the gate to do that. Also my horse relaxes no matter what you do in the first eighth of a mile. I had the tools to do what I wanted to do and it worked out well.

BOBBY FRANKEL: The victory, what do you mean?

BOBBY FRANKEL: I'm sure the sport would like to have seen Funny Cide win. It is 25 years. I was worried with that 25 years, it was 25-year spread. I thought maybe destiny wanted that horse to win. It came through. I'm sure everybody is a little disappointed, I�m sure that Juddmonte people are happy. Jerry Bailey is happy. Justin is happy. Prince Abdullah is happy.

BOBBY FRANKEL: You learn and I think I learned from this experience cause when I had Aptitude, he wasn't nearly as good a horse. I leaned on him pretty good. He ran a great race in the Derby, you know. I think if I leaned on this horse a little bit, he would have won.

BOBBY FRANKEL: For sure when you're in this level of competition, unless you're Secretariat or something that it -- you have to have things go smoothly for you. Secretariat got beat, you know. We all get beat.

BOBBY FRANKEL: There's a chance he might run next year knowing the connections. They like to see the horse run. They don't need the money. Maybe he'll stay good and sound. If I say he's very sound after the Breeders' Cup, maybe they'll run him. It was like Al Demarra. They asked me how sound. Can he make the year? Yes. They let me run him. I think it depends on the soundness, if he's sound.

BOBBY FRANKEL: Boy, I don't talk too often. I talk to Dr. Chandler. Only time I see him is for the big race like the Derby or Breeders' Cup. Never any pressure. I basically do what is best for the horse. That's why I think we have a great relationship. He cares about his horses, doesn't want to see any of them get hurt and it worked out well.

BOBBY FRANKEL: I think it was a big factor. Going in, that's the way I wanted it to happen. But, you know, I was a little worried about the one hole. Jerry wasn't. I would have rather five or six hole or just outside of Funny Cide so he wouldn't have to make a move like that, he just would have fell behind him behind him man. It worked out great he got where I wanted him to be without telling him what to do.

BOBBY FRANKEL: Probably win the Travers and maybe beat Funny Cide again obviously, and with two we're two for one with him so that's good. I think he can win the Breeders' Cup this horse, I think he's that good a horse, he can beat the older horses.

BOBBY FRANKEL: It's good for the game if there is a rivalry. If we can return again in the Travers stuff like that it will be exciting and it will be good for racing.

JUSTIN BAILEY: Ten.

BOBBY FRANKEL: 39. Bailey thanks guys.