Term of Art © Benoit Photo
JOE TALAMO (Term of Art, winner) – “He’s growing up. The more this horse runs, the better he’s going to get. He’ll just improve as he goes along, as he matures. I was very impressed with him today. I think he’ll run on, too. He’ll run a mile and a quarter. He wasn’t blowing hard at all at the end of this today. The track is playing OK. It’s mostly fair. Maybe a little deep; I don’t think they’re going to be setting any track records today.”
NORBERTO ARROYO, JR. (Vending Machine, second) -- “It was a good race for him. He tried hard. He handled the track well and he ran good. We just got beat.”
SANTIAGO GONZALEZ (Sword Fighter, third) – “Good race for him. The track was no problem.”
LEANDRO MORA, assistant to Doug O’Neill (Term of Art, winner) – “The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (9th) was a lot of horses and it got a little tight coming out of the gate. He’s not a horse who can take dirt in his face. He’s got to be a little clear. But he came out of it sound and we decided to try him in this race on the grass. When the race was called off the grass, Doug called me and said ‘What do you think?’ I said I like it because it’s off the grass. It worked out well and he wasn’t even tired when he came back. We still have a lot more we can do with this horse.”
FRACTIONS: :23.80 :48.77 1:14.91 1:27.98 1:41.69
The stakes win was the second of the meeting, but the first in the Cecil B. DeMille for rider Talamo. He now has 45 stakes wins at Del Mar.
The stakes win was the first of the Fall meet and the first in the Cecil B. DeMille for trainer O’Neill. He now has 34 stakes wins at Del Mar.