STEVE ANDERSEN | BELMONT Q&A Flat

Go Go Go Horserace: STEVE ANDERSEN | BELMONT Q&A Flat. Steve Andersen of the Daily Racing kind joined us to speak all things i will Have Another prior his bid for Triple Crown glory in Saturday's Belmont Stakes. sportinglife: Where has i will Have Another sprung from and the way stunned have you ever been by his progress this year?

Steve Andersen: He was brought along steadily and extremely wisely. He had a Grade 2 inserting last summer at Del Mar and then visited the Hopeful Stakes at Saratoga in September and ran poorly. but he came out with sore shines and, whereas he did not need surgery, they gave him lots of time to urge over them.

In doing therefore he extremely came on and won the Bob Lewis Stakes at Santa Anita on February first terribly convincingly, winning from the front that was how you had to try and do it at the start of the meet. They then created the fascinating call to attend one or two of months for the Santa Anita Derby and pass-up races in March. That gave them the possibility to create him up once more and have a recent horse for what has been the foremost necessary a part of his career.

That was an enormous call, lots of times you will see lots of three-year-olds in America run in February, March and April and then head into the Triple Crown. At that time you see them setting out to get a bit boring, a bit tired, and i will Have Another is not doing that immediately. He has solely had the four races this year, one or 2 below the typical - which may convince be a key issue.

sportinglife : What did you create of his performance within the Kentucky Derby?

SA: Outstanding. Turning for home i assumed Bodemeister was home and would be a snug 2 or 3 length winner, the same as the method Bob Baffert won it with War Emblem a couple of decade ago. Well, instead i will Have Another was the sole horse to emerge and run him down. Straight when i assumed he'd do well within the Preakness.

sportinglife: He went on to win the Preakness. Was that an improved performance and the way completely different a take a look at was that to the Kentucky Derby?

SA: i feel it had been an improved performance as a result of you are handling a race that's one hundred ten yards shorter at a mile and 3 sixteenths. I believed that worked in Bodemeister's favour and it looked as if he was progressing to be clear at the wire however i will Have Another came and got him. it had been one in every of the higher Preaknesses we have seen within the last twenty years, harping back to the slim call between Sunday Silence and simple Goer after they were solely separated by a head or a neck when a stretch-long fight.

In this race it had been fascinating to envision i will Have Another keep returning, keep fighting, to urge to Bodemeister and eventually blow over him. i might provide that performance the next mark than the Kentucky Derby in he was taking part in a game his rival is healthier at, specifically racing over the shorter trip.

sportinglife: How huge an opportunity does one provide i will Have Another of finishing the Triple Crown?

SA: a large probability. i have been talking to his trainer Doug O'Neill often within the previous few weeks and he says the horse has held his weight and is doing his bit. the sunshine campaign through the winter can extremely facilitate him and also the mile-and-a-half ought to suit, he has the bloodlines in his pedigree for it.

His type of racing ought to suit the Belmont too. you do not need to try and do an excessive amount of, timely and you do not need to depart yourself with an excessive amount of to try and do within the finish either. you actually simply need to complete every furlong in twelve seconds and hope you'll be able to keep the trip. These horses can never run a mile-and-a-half on dirt once more, if ok they will go all the way down to 10 furlongs for the Breeders' Cup Classic. we do not run those forms of races within the u.  s. that makes this an acceptable race to guage the championship.

I think i will Have Another has an impressive probability however what is emerged as his biggest threat is that the trend that has developed within the last 10 years. Horses that ran within the Kentucky Derby then skipped the Preakness are favoured and Dullahan and Union Rags match that bill. The latter had a troublesome begin at Churchill Downs with traffic at the primary flip however finished alright. He gets a replacement jockey this point however there's an argument he may well be higher at slightly shorter than a mile-and-a-half.

Dullahan won the Blue Grass and was third within the Derby and they have been watching for this race. he is the principal scare for i will Have Another.

sportinglife.com: Why have such a large amount of horses failed previously within the Belmont having won the primary 2 legs of the Triple Crown?

SA: We're handling the gap issue once more and there is additionally the very fact they are obtaining a bit tired by currently, they don't seem to be one hundred per cent. that is why a number of the items we're seeing from i will Have Another are therefore promising immediately. we have a tendency to had it within the Daily Racing kind that he ran the last quarter mile of a Monday gallop in twenty six.5 seconds, 2 seconds quicker and that is race time, that is not far flung a workout.

He's clearly got lots of energy and if he will keep doing that through the week it'll facilitate.

In general horses have struggled as a result of you are handling the gap, handling the last race of an in depth campaign through the winter, the prep races and also the Triple Crown itself. It lands up being powerful on horses to try and do it 3 times in a very row and be at your best, it will perpetually be somebody else's day too.

sportinglife.com: How huge has the i will Have Another story become in yankee sports in general?

SA: It's growing however this can be racing's time to require the spotlight. {this is|this is often|this will be} the time of year when the game can get pleasure from having a marquee event. there is no NFL for instance which rules the roost over here and that'll facilitate this race get the eye - particularly when there is a Triple Crown at stake.

It's been thirty four years since the last one and that is arguably 2 generations. uncountable folks have grown up while not knowing what it's prefer to recognise a Triple Crown winner, they need no recollections of Seattle Slew, Affirmed and Secretariat from the Seventies. there is a novelty issue whenever a horse wins the Kentucky Derby and Preakness.

sportinglife.com: Tell us regarding i will Have Another's trainer Doug O'Neill and jockey Mario Gutierrez?

SA: Doug is one in every of the highest trainers in Southern California and nationally has been distinguished now and then within the last decade. He had Lava Man, a seven-time Grade One winner who is i will Have Another's pony currently, he goes to the track with him each day. He won the Hollywood Gold Cup 3 times, won a Sanita Anita Handicap and a Pacific Classic. In 2006 had he won the Breeders' Cup Classic he'd are Horse Of The Year however he was crushed at Churchill Downs. he is had alternative sensible horses too however this can be noticeably the most important moment in his coaching career.

The story of the jockey is incredibly completely different. He's 25, from Veracruz Mexico, on the Gulf Of Mexico facet of the coastline, to the east of Mexico town. He grew up in a very quarter horse family and visited Mexico town to ride at the Hipodromo de las Americas in regarding 2005 when he was eighteen.

Somebody was down there from Hastings Park in British Colombia and noticed him and said ' does one need to come back up to Vancouver and ride'. He went on to become one in every of the leading riders up there and extremely polished his craft.

Then Troy Taylor the trainer was returning all the way down to California with a bunch of horses. they do not race at Hastings Park within the winter, it is a seasonal racetrack, and Gutierrez reduced, picked up an agent, picked up a couple of rides and is currently on the verge of the Triple Crown.

He's the one who appears to be having the foremost problem with the eye. he isn't too keen on press interviews, ducking them or avoiding queries. he isn't used to the current reasonably factor, it is a whole new ball game for him. He did not ride last week, he took it off and visited Vancouver to hold out along with his friends. He visited Belmont at the beginning of in the week and can ride in some races on Friday and Saturday to urge used to the track that is exclusive in itself thanks to its size.

sportinglife: therefore Steve the million greenback question - will i will Have Another complete the Triple Crown on Saturday night?

SA: i feel he will. i have never felt this excited since Smarty Jones in 2004 who was within the same scenario and got caught late, late within the race. That was a troublesome loss for his backers however this guy sounds like he is got a reasonably sensible run left in him.

It will be fascinating to envision how he handles the mile-and-a-half. The jockey might not welcome the eye however when he gets on this horse he does not let something hassle him and that i hope that continues. If this horse provides it one hundred per cent he may rather be storming to the front a furlong to travel and win by a length.

Dullahan is that the horse to beat however I do assume he has it in him. it might be an enormous boost for the game over here in America. it might get racing on the front pages and to the front of the Sports Centre Highlights show. that is how they decide the market over here currently.