Garrett Gomez Quotations

To picture him doing what he just accomplished? No. From 5½ to a mile and an eighth in a short period of time and beat the kind of horses he did, that's asking a lot.

She wasn't quite all there for me today. She wanted to do too much early. If I could have kept her bottled up early on, she would have had some more punch for the lane.

She handled the track OK, but she wasn't skipping over it. I let her settle and took my time. I knew there was a lot of speed and when I dropped her in at the three-eighths pole, it was just a matter of finding a spot for her. I did and she did the rest.

My horse was getting a little bit tired. They quickened at the half-mile pole and it looked like maybe Alex got a little breather around the turn. My horse is so big, I was really asking him going to the quarter pole, but Alex was just cruising and we just couldn't quite make up that much ground.

My horse was getting a little bit tired. I was really asking him going to the quarter pole, but Alex was just cruising and we just couldn't quite make up that much ground.

I don't know what happened; he was just flat.

I felt I had plenty of room when I started up in there. Just about the eighth pole, the outside horse came over. He was about four wide, five wide. When I come off the turn and come over, I had no room. It cost me the race.

He was a little throttled up from laying over on the field and I had his mouth gagged over going into the first turn. Once I headed up the backside I just kind of let him out a notch and tried to just get him to find his stride and get comfortable.

He felt good, he acted like he always does and he actually left the gate wonderful. But when it came time to run he just wasn't there. He must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed.

He's a grinder. I was very impressed with the way he handled everything.

He's got phenomenal speed. If he can keep that bottled up and enjoy himself, he's ten times better.

I wouldn't say I thought I had the race won. It was all in the way he was going to respond to me when we turned for home. Once we headed to about the three-eighths pole, he seemed to start to come back to me a little bit more than I liked. And I said, 'I'm going to go now.' I thought I went fast enough that as long as I had him going I wouldn't give anyone a chance to even get close to him.

The other morning I worked him and he didn't do anything wrong. I thought I went fast enough that as long as I had him going, I wouldn't give anyone a chance to even get close to him.

This was the first time he was running against these kind of horses, and he had been off for a while. With the combination of the two, I really didn't know what to expect. He acted like he was getting a little tired at the top of the lane, but he switched leads and found another gear.

That's not the way I wanted the race to shape up. He was getting late, but so was everyone else from chasing him.

This is icing on the cake. I couldn't ask for anything more. I feel like crying right now ... I wondered if I'd ever ride again. To be in this position, I can't explain it.

There wasn't anybody going to beat Sinister Minister today. No one. Bob had him sharp and ready to roll, and he was much the best. I thought I went fast enough that as long as I had him going, I might as well keep him going and not give anybody a chance to get close to him.

After we got going, I just found myself in front. I had to work for it some, but he was up to the task. He just ran and ran and ran. He's some horse.

I'm just happy to be able to participate, much less win two and then accept the Bill Shoemaker Award. It's beyond my wildest dreams.

I really wasn't planning to move as early as I did, but he was doing everything so easily I didn't want to take a chance on letting something recoup and give me a run for our money at any time.

He came up firing but them came up empty. He was just flat.

He ran a good race. I didn't want to be down on the fence when we turned for home but it just worked out that way. He made the lead there and I really wish I could have been head and head with somebody to keep him focused a little better.