GOVERNOR’S HANDICAP
3-YEAR-OLDS & UP
74th RUNNING, MAY 19, 2013
6-½ FURLONGS IN 1:14.78 (:21.93, :43.83, 1:08.12, 1:14.78)
JOCKEY AARON GRYDER, HOIST, WINNER: “I worked him a couple time up at Hastings and he’d been training great. He drew a good post today. With the post he had today, I was happy that the horses we had to beat were on the outside of us. I just wanted to break as I clean as I could. I knew that my horse was extremely quick, so they were going to have to really push to outrun him early. They didn’t want to push, so I kept my horse out in the middle of the track and forced the other jockeys to make decisions. By the time we got to the turn, he was going quickly enough that we could just open it up. I didn’t hear any other horses coming, I just heard (trainer) Mike Puhich yelling.”
JOCKEY DEBBIE HOONAN, STRYKER PHD, SECOND: “I can’t wait to go a route. I started to ask him at the three-eighths pole and he just started flying. I thought we were going to win it, I really did.”
JOCKEY JAVIER MATIAS, WINNING MACHINE, 3-TO-2 FAVORITE, SIXTH: “He broke out of the gate really good. I moved him into a good position, but when I asked him, he gave me nothing today. I don’t know what happened out there. It seemed like everything was OK, but then he was just out of it. I don’t think he was tired. He just had a bad day.”
NOTES: Hoist (11-4-1-5-$210,901)…Mike Puhich has three wins today and three career stakes wins @ EmD…This is the first win @ Emerald Downs for 42 year-old jockey Aaron Gryder, and No. 3,607 in his career…Puhich, Glen Todd (North American Thoroughbred Racing Co.) and Mario Gutierrez combined to win the 2012 Longacres Mile with Taylor Said…Next for 3-year-olds and up: $50,000 Budweiser Handicap, one mile, Sunday, June 16.
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