Dan Hendricks Quotations

The only edge I know is I've been around turns twice and he hasn't.

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

Lying in a hospital bed, I had a lot of time to think about everything. When you look at a horse race and you look at the fighting in Iraq, it puts things into perspective.

Point Determined is just coming around, learning what it's all about, and he ran a very good race. A.P. Warrior turned around and ran one of his best races. I think they are both moving forward and they should be formidable foes.

I'd like a nice easy race out of him. I don't need a taxing one. We wanted to settle him down between races this time. His last two workouts were phenomenal, and it's really exciting to watch him.

If a horse wants to be sent out there and be ridiculous, let him. We'll be close. Everybody knows what our style is.

If it were two turns, that would have been totally different. I know that he's a two-turn horse. He proved it today.

He will gallop Friday morning and when he works on Monday, Alex Solis will be there for the work. Luis Ortega is coming for the first part and will stay through the work and then Francisco Alvarado will be here for the rest of the week.

He is not a people's horse. He likes to be let be. He goes out to the track, and he is working-like, and he wants to be pampered and groomed. But, no, he is not an approachable horse.

He had a fracture that took longer to heal than usual.

He got one little cut above his coronet band on his left front foot that was really nothing. It just had a little blood. Technically, the state veterinarian made a note of it and put him on the injured list, but it's anything but. It was just a mild little thing and not a problem at all. It won't cost him any time.

He does whatever it takes to get the job done. He's just a little professional.

He'll take it easy for a couple weeks, then have a couple of breezes and be ready to run.

We just have to keep doing what he's been doing and crank him up for the first Saturday in May.

We took a little edge off him and everything looks good. He doesn't require a lot of works. I don't need to work him every five or six days and really pound him. He stays fit on his own. He'll do a little something Wednesday or Thursday and that should be it.

Going a mile and an eighth, I have tactical speed. With a short field, it shouldn't be a problem, nor should the weather. There's only a 20% chance of rain, so we should be fine.

He's a solid, good-minded, talented 3-year-old. We're just along for the ride.

He's got good speed, but it might be a good race for him to sit off the pace a tiny bit.

He shipped fine and everything is going wonderful.

He's getting stronger and seems to improve after every race. It looks like he's put on weight.

He's fresh and full of himself. It worked out just the way we wanted. It was a non-taxing race, and he did it in racehorse time.

He walked about a half hour, had his bath and is doing fine.

He did it just about like the last few weeks. We'll come back next week with a three-quarters or so work Saturday or Sunday and we're all set.

He can run, that's all there is to it. There hasn't been any faster horses in the races so far, and the next one there will be and it's a whole new game.

He can run, that's all there is to it. He's got tactical speed. It's just that no one has run faster yet.

He can run, that's all there is to it.

He just seems better than ever now. I didn't plan for the Derby. I planned for the end of (last) year to have a fresh 2-year-old, and I think it ended up a good plan. I have a lightly raced 3-year-old ready to go.

It barely broke the skin. He just took a little bit of hair off.

I think they did that because he'll be a short price in the pick six. I hope they're right.

I won't take him off for a pound or two.

I think this is a very deep, talented group.

I might be more excited if the gray horse won this time.

You always hope to get a horse that just keeps improving. Each week, each race, he's done that.

We had hoped to get an easy lead, and he relaxed and finished. He's a real racehorse.

The overall plan has always been to get there. Luckily, we've been improving and he's doing well. Once we get through Saturday and everything goes well, we'll start planning on from there.

We'll take him over to the paddock and school him this afternoon with the fourth race if it isn't raining.

We knew we didn't have any chance, but it was a good experience. You could even say it's a bigger race now. I imagine there will be a little more attention on us this time around.

We'll have to train a little harder now. We'll be training for the toughest race to win in the world.

The races are two weeks apart, so he would have four to six weeks from the Futurity. It will depend on the weather, and whether he needs four or six weeks between starts. He's a good horse with minimal wear and tear going into the new year.

Everything with the horse seems to be right where we want it to be. He's fresh and going into the race with what I hope is a lot more in reserve. He seems to be advancing -- and he needs to.

Everything takes longer to do and you can't just run around and do quick little things like you used to. Everything has got to be planned out. That part of it gets old.

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

Don't kid yourself, all we think about is winning the Derby. If you ask 1,000 people on the street about horse racing, they're going to say Kentucky Derby and Bill Shoemaker.

The whole scenario, how it's going to lay out, I just don't know. Even with a fast pace, he'll be close. We're not going to try to teach him a whole new way of running. It's a 20-horse field with a lot of pressure up front. The tactical strategy changes because of that.

The work was great. It was a little faster than I wanted, but he did it easy, so it was fine. He couldn't have looked any better. He went off the first eighth easily, and he finished his last eighth in 11 and change without Alex even asking him.

The work was fine. He broke off nice and easy and then picked it up and cruised on home. Alex was happy with the work. He never looks like he is doing anything because he does it so easy.

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.

The state veterinarian made a note of it and put him on the injured list. It was just a mild little thing and not a problem at all. It won't cost him any time.

After his work next week, he'll be pretty much set for the race.

Special? Now that is a big word, like genius. It should not be thrown around. Special should be reserved for Triple Crown winners and horses like Spectacular Bid. (Brother Derek) is a very nice horse and he has gotten better and better.

This is the Cecil Peacock and Brother Derek party. We've got a bunch of friends going and we're going to enjoy it.

This is the biggest win of my career.

They were hanging on the fence and he didn't get shook up, unlike me and Cecil. The Derby is different. You have to get used to the media horde and the barn area. It's hard to imagine what it will be like. You need to get in there 10 days early.

This makes you look like you can ride and I can train. The good ones will do that.

This is what the Derby is all about.

It's just this crop. It's a competitive crop with front-runners and stalking types. It'll be interesting.

It was a very encouraging race last time. He went wide and ran big. I was very surprised he ran that race.

It's a good position to see what everyone is going to do. Ill let Alex make the right decision.

It's going to suit a horse that comes from off the pace. I think he can sit off the pace. If we get the suicidal pace, it's going to hurt us.

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's fun. Like I've always said, I'd rather have the favorite going into any race than a 20-to-1 shot. There's a first time for everything and this is a lot of fun. I just hope we can sustain it, keep it going and stay healthy.

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.

That horse might still be a better horse. I didn't know I'd get an easy lead. When I saw him out on the lead easy like that, I was confident and happy.

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.

It worked out really good. We had him a little fresh by not doing as much work.

I'm not pressed to run him. He doesn't need to run. He's fresh and he's a three-year-old at the beginning of the year, and it's a long year.

I have some advantages going into this race. I just hope that it all works out. The Juvenile was a one-turn race; this is different and it's not the ultimate goal for either horse, but it would be a nice, fun race to win.

I just went over a jump without enough momentum to carry myself over it. I landed wrong and hit the ground. I rode all my life and never had a broken bone. I knew it wasn't life-threatening, just life-messing-up. I knew right away that I messed up and that life was never going to be the same.

I hope he does. I don't need the lead. If they want to go, let 'em go.

In a 10- to 12-horse field, I'd love to be up against any of these horses, and I'd be really confident. Twenty horses takes away some of my tactical strategy.

If I could have mapped it out, he couldn't have done any better. It was a nice, easy race on him and he did it in racehorse time.

I don't want to run on an off track or a hard, sealed track. There's no reason to this early in the year. There's no reason to take a chance, that's all.

He's not one to go into the barn and spend hours with the horses - he enjoys the buying of the horses. He comes and looks at the horses with me and we go to the sales together there and at the races.

He's more of the laid-back type but when it gets to this grand scale and we're on the top in the horse racing world, he gets very excited and very much enjoys it.

He's matured and is doing things easier now.

He's in a clean spot to see what everyone else is doing. The only worry is that he could be a little wide on the first turn, but it's not a big issue.

For some reason, he just matured from then until now. We just started to see him ripple and grow up some more. I don't know what brought it about, but it was good timing.

All they talked about was the winner and the third-place horse. He was ready to go a mile and an eighth.

The fractions were a little soft and I thought Stevie was a little closer than I wanted him to be but it worked out. Alex had a lot of horse. He knows the horse and he rode him perfect.