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Preakness 2011
Jockey John Velazquez talks up Animal Kingdom VIDEO
Written by Jennie Rees
“He was so calm, even with all the hoopla and people and everything,” Velazquez said Friday. “He showed no stress. He was really relaxed and really confident in himself.
“He'd never run on the dirt, but he ran like he'd run on the dirt 20 times. He handled everything really well. Every time I asked him to do something, he was there for me. When I held my position, he was there for me. When I pulled him out, he ran. If he does that, he'll be a really, really tough horse to beat.”
Velazquez would be the first jockey to ride Animal Kingdom twice, but he isn't taking anything for granted. After all, Robby Albarado was scheduled to ride the colt in the Derby but was replaced the day before after sustaining facial fractures earlier in the week.
“Let's not say that yet, because I haven't ridden today yet,” Velazquez said with a laugh. He said he'd talked with Albarado in the Pimlico jocks' room Friday.
“Oh, yeah, we have no problem,” said Velazquez, who is giving an undisclosed portion of his Derby earnings to Albarado. “The same way as after the Kentucky Derby, I went to him and talked to him. Listen, he's a trouper. He knows things happen. It happens to me. It happens to all of us. It's just unfortunate it happened to him on Derby Day.”
Velazquez said he reined in his emotions about winning the Derby in deference to Albarado.
“I know he's in the jockeys' room watching,” he said. “Out of respect for him, it was definitely a quiet moment for me. A lot of people said, ‘How come you didn't show any emotions?' I did show emotions. I just didn't celebrate the way everybody else does, because there was another jockey there who was named on the horse and he didn't get to ride him.
“And in a case like him, he was hurt. It wasn't like they took him off the week before the Derby. I mean, you're hurt, you're down and then you get kicked down on the floor. It's not a good feeling. It's not in my nature to celebrate like nothing happened.”
Of course, Velazquez was available to ride only because his own scheduled mount, 2-year-old champion Uncle Mo, was scratched the morning before the Derby. The two years before that he also saw his highly regarded Derby mounts, Eskendereya and Quality Road, drop out in the two weeks before the race.
“It was meant to be, that's the only way you could put,” he said of this year's victory.
Jennie Rees can be reached at (502) 582-4042.
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