Todd Pletcher, winning trainer of Blofeld (No. 2): "I thought he lost his momentum when he got squeezed out on the turn. It took him a while to regain it and I thought it might have left him with too much to do, but he put in an explosive last sixteenth of a mile. The plan going into this race was to go next to the Nashua [Grade 2, $200,000, Aqueduct Racetrack, November 2], but I will talk to the connections and see if that's still the plan."

John Velazquez, winning rider aboard Blofeld (No. 2): "It wasn't the trip I was expecting, but he still won. We got squeezed out of a spot near the half-mile pole. We were behind the top two horses and he was getting a little bit intimidated, but once he got his momentum going he came back again. I'm proud of him, because they're babies, they don't get squeezed and try to come back again in the same spot. I was getting worried that he may not get there, but once he got close enough to the other horses he got into another gear."