The fractions were a little soft and I thought Stevie was a little closer than I wanted him to be but it worked out. Alex had a lot of horse. He knows the horse and he rode him perfect.

All they talked about was the winner and the third-place horse. He was ready to go a mile and an eighth.

For some reason, he just matured from then until now. We just started to see him ripple and grow up some more. I don't know what brought it about, but it was good timing.

He's in a clean spot to see what everyone else is doing. The only worry is that he could be a little wide on the first turn, but it's not a big issue.

He's matured and is doing things easier now.

He's more of the laid-back type but when it gets to this grand scale and we're on the top in the horse racing world, he gets very excited and very much enjoys it.

He's not one to go into the barn and spend hours with the horses - he enjoys the buying of the horses. He comes and looks at the horses with me and we go to the sales together there and at the races.

I don't want to run on an off track or a hard, sealed track. There's no reason to this early in the year. There's no reason to take a chance, that's all.

If I could have mapped it out, he couldn't have done any better. It was a nice, easy race on him and he did it in racehorse time.

In a 10- to 12-horse field, I'd love to be up against any of these horses, and I'd be really confident. Twenty horses takes away some of my tactical strategy.