Dan Hendricks Santa 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.

We're set for the Santa Catalina. He's here, he loves this track, so why leave?

It's fun , all the media and hype, but we have a nice horse here, and we're going to enjoy the Santa Catalina. I'd like it to be a nice, easy race, not a taxing race.

It looked like he was galloping, and I thought he was going way too slow. But he went :49 1/5, and I asked him to go :49, so he got it pretty close. We just wanted to stretch his legs, get over the track, and do a little something because it's been a week since we worked him at Santa Anita. He's fit from his races; I didn't need a lot. It was just a little something as much for us as for him.

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.