Click here for a replay of the race and the post-race interview with winning connections.

Dallas Stewart (winning trainer of Hoist the Gold)

“When you show up with a nice horse and a jock (John Velazquez) that’s won five Grade 1s for you, you got a lot of confidence. I didn’t worry about a thing down the backside. It played out perfect. He got him out. The horse loves this track. He came home good, so we know where we’re going November 4: back west (for the Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Sprint-G1). It’s great to be here. It’s a great day. We got a great thing going with horse racing; we just gotta keep rolling.”

John Velazquez (winning rider)

“(Trainer) Dallas Stewart and I talked in the Paddock and I watched his (Hoist the Gold’s) races – seems like when he’s close to the pace he’s much better. So I told him I’m going to come out of there and get him third at least and we’ll have a really good chance. Once I got him back and got behind those two horses I was in a great position where I thought I wanted to be. But I almost messed up a little bit when I asked him a little too much the first sixteenth of a mile.”

Irad Ortiz Jr. (rider of runner-up Nakatomi)

“He was game. He was trying. He gave me everything he had. The winner was the best today. My horse ran a huge race. My horse leaned in, but I kept him straight. It was a good pace in front of me. They put on an honest pace.”

Tyler Gaffalione (rider of third-place finisher Bango)

“The horse did everything I asked him to. He ran as hard as he could – just weren’t able to get the money today.”