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BREEDERS' CUP WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS


October 30, 2004


Carl Barth

Ramon Dominguez

Chris Dwyer

Brent Johnson

H. Graham Motion


GRAND PRAIRIE, TEXAS

THE MODERATOR: Okay, we are joined here in the interview tent with the just-completed John Deere Breeders' Cup Turf. We have the managing partner of the stables, Brent Johnson, Graham Motion, rider Ramon Dominguez, Carl Barth and Chris Dwyer. Congratulations to all of you. I think the circumstances of the race dictate that we ask Ramon a question or two first. First of all, the riders were arguing and pleading their cases. Now that the pressure is off, give us your take on what happened.

RAMON DOMINGUEZ: Sure. I feel pretty strongly what happened. I feel like just, basically, I held my ground. I had full control of my horse the full time. He said, "Well," (inaudible) true, but that was not the case today as far as me interfering with the other horses. The other horse tried to go around the leader, but I had every right to just open up and that's what I did. (Inaudible) and I don't feel like I did anything that anybody else wouldn't have done.

Q. A few questions just to clarify: You can watch the video twice and come up with two different answers. Did the Kitten's Joy come into (inaudible) while Velazquez was looking in the racing group, and did Powerscourt bang into you after the Kitten's Joy stuff was done and over with?

RAMON DOMINGUEZ: It was a combination, very predictable at that point. It was everybody racing for the rider position. The horse was inside holding the ground and, therefore, he was coming out some. Johnny was (inaudible) and I was just, once again, holding my ground and (inaudible) too hard at that point. (Inaudible) run into me and a combination of both.

Q. Graham Motion and Brent Johnson: I know this is your first trip. You came here (inaudible) and came to Houston in a rainstorm. What gave you the conviction -- you had the great one win with Saratoga with Sword Dancer. You went out 27-1, so there weren't a whole lot of believers in the crowd. What gave you the confidence to try Texas again?

BRENT JOHNSON: I just felt the turf division this year wasn't that strong. Honestly, it comes from Graham Motion, such a fantastic trainer. This horse last Friday wasn't quite up to par, but we were actually thinking about whether we should run the race or not. Graham told us, this is what we do, the size of the work-out, the horse was so super last week. Graham said he went super. I was telling Graham's wife. When I hear "super" come out of Graham's mouth, I felt like we had a chance. I thought we had a chance and should take a shot.

Q. Graham, hindsight is always 20/20 (inaudible) well off of it and came rolling like a machine around the turn. Same circumstances in a way with Star Over the Bay, but Better Talk Now made that same kind of move. When did you start to have a really good feeling about how your horse was running?

GRAHAM MOTION: I felt pretty comfortable down the back side. (Inaudible) I think they went a little slow early on. I felt that we were pretty comfortable where we were. When did I feel he was going to run well? I don't really know. It's a bit of a blur for me.

Q. Obviously, this is the biggest day of your career since you went out on your own. Not to be overlooked, it was a very fine second by Gomez earlier. Would it be fair to say that this day is -- (inaudible) has that day really exceeded your expectations?

GRAHAM MOTION: Like Brent said, we were very close to not running this horse today. They recently changed the surface on Fairhill and everybody talked about it, it was an (inaudible), but we came this close to not running today. We all talked about it. We talked about it over and over again. We thought we had to come on as long as the horse acted like he was doing well, so we did and here we are.

Q. Questions in the room for Brent Graham or Ramon? Graham, what in your mind accounts for this horse's improvement this year?

GRAHAM MOTION: I don't know if he has really improved. I think he is back where he was last year. I think he is getting a little better with age. I blame Brent for the first trip to Texas. I will take credit for the second one. (Inaudible) very tricky horse. It was a cruel way for the inquiry, because we had been through this once before. I wasn't clear exactly what had happened, but knowing the (inaudible) I was very worried, you know.

Q. Did you find it at all ironic, Graham, that two of the jockeys arguing against you were Ed Prado and Velazquez?

GRAHAM MOTION: I was trying to grab them and make sure they knew it was my horse.

Q. Ramon, could you describe your feelings sort of like you did earlier, winning this race? (Inaudible) feelings right now (inaudible)?

RAMON DOMINGUEZ: I mean, I think the race, I was happy with my horse. Graham (inaudible), and relaxed and I felt like (inaudible) the horse early on, but quite honestly, when I wasn't approaching the 5/8 poll, closer to the half mile, I was getting goosebumps seeing how the race was developing in front of me. Up to the 7/8ths, the leader for the half mile was right in front of me. I said, "What kind of bold move." It seems like everybody was going after Kitten's Joy. So it was going to develop for me later on and that's what it did. My horse came on strong.

Q. (Inaudible) on the turn?

RAMON DOMINGUEZ: It reminded me of the feeling I got when I rode Storm Dancer. He was himself and really came on pretty good.

Q. Carl and Chris, everybody is happy the Funny Cide gelding can run year after year. So stud plans? We better talk now.

CHRIS DWYER: (Inaudible).

Q. Can we look forward to a campaign?

CHRIS DWYER: That's why I kept telling Brent and Carl and our buddies that came up, if he won this race he is going to come back over and over and over again.

GRAHAM MOTION: I think it was a good race for running. We didn't have to worry about the stallion career.

CHRIS DWYER: This is why we got into this. It's a lot of fun. Days like this are so memorable that you want to keep coming back. Once you get bit by the bug, it's a bad bug to get bit by.

Q. Ramon, Prado (inaudible) and finally after many years moved on to New York where he was at or near the top of the profession now. You enjoyed similar success to his in the Mid Atlantic. You came up in Saratoga and had limited opportunities, now your first Breeders' Cup win. What do you think the future holds for you? Have you thought about moving on to a bigger circuit?

RAMON DOMINGUEZ: I mean, I work on a daily basis and (inaudible) more than I have so far. I have a chance to mention my agent's name (inaudible) I don't know what the future holds for me. Hopefully -- part of the area which is something I hope everybody understands, search for the bigger horses and bigger races. It is very addictive when you come to a place like this and win a place of this caliber, you start feeling (inaudible) and that's why you want to win more and more. I have to take advantage of the moment and thank (inaudible) again because of my career. He is one of the few guys that really gave me a good shot, some very good horses when I was fairly unknown. That is something I have always appreciated.

Q. Prado used to be Graham's main man and Graham can't get him to ride for him anymore.

RAMON DOMINGUEZ: The reason he didn't ride for Graham anymore is Graham fired him.

Q. Graham or Brent, will this be the last start of the year?

GRAHAM MOTION: Yes. I haven't told you yet, but we are not running him again.

CHRIS DWYER: I already had my flight to Hong Kong booked.

GRAHAM MOTION: We will have fun with him next year. The horse is in good condition. This will be a hard race on him today. (Inaudible) that's why we are here today.

Q. Graham, on a scale of 1-10, how nervous were you that he was coming down?

GRAHAM MOTION: I have been on the wrong side of so many of these. With him, the way he acts, I didn't see clearly what happened. I know what he does. I was very worried. It was a cruel five minutes. I expect (inaudible).

Q. Anything else? Brent, Graham, Ramon, Chris and Carl, congratulations and continued success. Thank you very much.

End of FastScripts...

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