Dan Hendricks Grade Quotations

The Santa Anita Derby and Kentucky Derby are two totally different-run races, with a speed-biased track and short field compared with going back there with a 20-horse field and who knows what the pace scenario will be? This is a big race, a $750,000 Grade I. To win that would be a big deal. The Kentucky Derby is like a one-hand poker game. It's all in with whatever you've got. Whatever comes up comes up.

Every race is an education for a race horse. But this is a $750,000 Grade I race.

The next race will be either the San Rafael Stakes (a Grade 2, $150,000 race Jan. 15 at Santa Anita) or your race. It's $100,000 more up there. The grade isn't important; what matters to me is another $100,000. We'll see how he's doing for the next couple of weeks and how the weather is.