JOCKEY QUOTES

TYLER BAZE, MAJESTIC HARBOR, WINNER: “To do this for Sean, it means a whole lot for the guy that stood by my side. He gave me an opportunity to ride this horse first time out. I’ve gotten to know him, learn about him and learn how to ride him and I never lost any bit of faith in him.

“From the first time I got on him, I told Sean, ‘This horse will make you. We’ll win the Breeders’ Cup with him.’ I’m just looking forward to that and now we’re goin’ fishing! The guys that keep you going in these smaller barns, it just means so much. They have stood by me and they’ve been there for me. I’m happy to be able to do this so maybe they can get bigger.

“I knew we would win last week after I worked him. I told him we were going to win today. We said if we won, we’d be going fishing on Sunday so we might just be leavin’ tomorrow night!”

MIKE SMITH, GAME ON DUDE, FOURTH: “I didn’t want to be going that fast, but by the time we took back, we were already going real fast.”

ASKED IF HE THOUGHT HE HAD A CHANCE TO WIN AT THE QUARTER POLE: “No.”

GARY STEVENS, FURY KAPCORI, SIXTH: “Jerry (Hollendorfer) and I thought he did his best racing on the lead. He’s won on the lead. He told me to take the initiative before. It was a little quicker than I would like but I was comfortable enough midway down the backside. At the end of the day, it was too far for him (distance).”

TRAINER QUOTES

SEAN McCARTHY, MAJESTIC HARBOR, WINNER: “It worked out perfectly for us (pace-wise). The horse had a great week, a great 10 days. The T’s were crossed, the I’s were dotted, and you just hope that when you lead him over there, he fires, and he fired. I couldn’t ask for a better trip, I couldn’t ask for things to have been any better.”

Mentioned this was a Win and You’re In race (see note below): “We’ve kind of got a cushion right now, so we’ll just wait and see how he comes out of the race. The Pacific Classic (at Del Mar Aug. 24) certainly is a race you’ve got to take a look at . . . We might wait for that race, he ran such a big race today. He trains well over that Polytrack at Del Mar. I’ve never run him on it but I had him on it a couple years training over it, so we’ll see how it plays out.”

Asked if this was his biggest win: “Oh, by far. I’ve had Grade I’s as an assistant. This is my first Grade I and only my second graded win. The Grade III Tokyo City Cup (March 29) was my first graded win on my own. Tyler’s (Baze) done a fantastic job. He’s had confidence in this horse all along . . . This horse is like a big kid. He wants to look around and play around.

“Tyler figured him out a little bit and got him up in the bridle and got him thinking about things and he’s done a tremendous job with him.”

On the pace scenario: “I was really pleased with it. I was a little scared when Dude dropped out and gave Gary (Stevens) the lead (on Fury Kapcori). Gary’s a devil. He can get out there in front and shut that thing down on you and he had a helluva horse to do it with.

“But by the same token, it didn’t intimidate Tyler. He didn’t get impatient, he didn’t get excited and when he pulled the trigger, that horse just responded.”

JERRY HOLLENDORFER, FURY KAPCORI, SIXTH: “Yeah, I thought he would go right to the lead. I don’t have any idea what I’ll do rider-wise or what race will be next.”

SHARON STONE, TROPHY PRESENTER: “I’ve been up in the Chandelier Room, and when you see these tiny saddles that the jockeys sit on, you realize how much athleticism is involved. To see the dirt on the winning jockey’s face, it’s so emotional. It means it was so challenging, he had to persevere in order to win. It’s been a great day. The joy of the food, the horses, the people and being in the Chandelier Room, which is so swanky; it’s just fantastic.”

NOTES: The Gold Cup is a Breeders’ Cup Challenge race, with the winner getting an automatic berth into the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 1. The winning owner is Ron Beegle of Arcadia, who races as Gallant Stables, LLC.