$200,000 Commonwealth Derby (G3) Quotes
$200,000 Commonwealth Derby (G3) Quotes
Skeedattle Associates co-owner Robert ‘Willie’ White (Just Howard): “We have Just Howard and it’s very exciting. He’s just a nice, solid horse. He does all the things that you want a horse to do. [Trainer] Graham [Motion] has been so excited about how he’s developed and gotten better.”
“I talked to [Graham] a couple of weeks ago about this race. He said, ‘I don’t care who is in there, we’re going because we’re going good.’”
“[Jockey] Feargal [Lynch] said this horse is a fighter. He just wants to win. The blinkers going on helped some. Maturing certainly helped some. He’s just getting better and better. Now we have to see what Mr. Motion thinks going from here.”
“They are teaching him [to relax], getting him in behind horses and he’s learning. Today was his best race. He just relaxed and sat there and sat there. Feargal said that when we got to the top of the lane we just had a lot of horse and knew we were going to make a big run.”
Jockey Feargal Lynch (Just Howard): “[Voodoo Song] is a Saratoga specialist. When he went wire-to-wire in Saratoga I knew he was going to be tough to beat. My horse got a great trip. Going into the first turn is where we won the race. Just when all those other horses were going to come down I stuck [Just Howard] right in there. [Voodoo Song] was the horse to track. The whole way I was just waiting for my gap to come open. I tried to actually come away from Voodoo Song because I didn’t want to go head-to-head with him because he battles back again. I tried to keep out to the middle of the track to keep away from the horse so we didn’t get into it. They came to him in Saratoga and he just kept finding a little bit so I thought, ‘Keep away from him.’ It came down to us and we got the better of him.”
Four wins, three stakes – “It’s a great day. Scott Silver, my agent, does a great job. Unfortunately, Trevor [McCarthy] is out at the moment but we’ve kept the show on the road. Scott does a great job for me and Graham Motion gives me a lot of opportunities to go to Fair Hill and help with the babies and I’ve been able to breeze Irish War Cry and be a big part of him this year. It’s been a great year, and a great day. It just all came together today. I really liked my horse in the maiden. He stumbled first time so I knew he was live today and in the stakes you’ve just got to get a good trip. When you’re riding for Chad Brown and Graham Motion, they put their horses in the right spots and make you look good.”
Margins: ¾, 1, ½
