Russell Baze Horse Quotations

One thing: I'll probably get a new rider next year because this kid finally got this horse beat, ... Just kidding.

I was surprised I was able to go so slow the first quarter. Bobby (Gonzalez) was getting after his horse to show some speed but his horse wouldn't go. My horse relaxed so nice. When they started to run at him, he picked it up on his own. As soon as horses come to him, he leans forward and wants to go.

My horse had no excuse. He broke sharp and sat right where I wanted him to be. The horse on the lead just ran too big today. In the last race when we caught him, he was getting tired. He didn't get tired today.

My horse was a little lackadaisical early, ... I got him out to the outside where I wanted to be going into the second turn, and he started to make a pretty good move and flattened out on me during the lane.

I saw the other horse close to the rail so I moved out a little to give myself some room in case anything happened and, sure enough, it did. But I was going to gather him in anyway, I felt. I knuckled him and he started to pick it up on his own and when I asked him in the stretch he went on real well. He's developing into a real nice horse.

I think this horse will only get better with more distance. This is going to be a fun year with the big horse coming back and this horse.

I was hoping that there would be a little more speed in there. My horse ran his race, but he just wasn't good enough today.

We needed the other horse to stop a little bit, and he never did.

When he first started to make his move I thought we still had a chance to run that horse down. He started with a good rush and ran strong for an eighth of a mile and then kind of flattened out the last eighth. At that point, he's usually running by all of them. He ran by all of them but the last one today. We needed that other horse to stop a little bit and he never did.

I've never been on a horse cooler than this horse, ... Nothing bothers him. The crowd was hooting and hollering and it didn't rattle him at all.

I love it when a plan comes together like that. Down the backstretch when Midwesterner came up outside of him, he grabbed the bit and didn't want him to get ahead of us. But on the turn when that horse dropped back, he relaxed and I knew we were all right.

He still has that brilliant speed. He was tugging me to the lead. I had a ton of horse down the backside and everything was fine until the turn. When he switched leads, the track came away from him. He was slipping on the turn, and that's when the other horse got the jump on him. Normally on the turn is where he puts them away.

This horse has handled so many tracks (seven to date), that I didn't see the track being a big factor, ... There are very few horses that can go with this horse for the first half-mile. He's and exceptional animal, and it is really going to take an exceptional animal to beat him. A couple of guys have said that he hasn't met the best, but we've taken on all comers and he's handled them pretty nicely.