SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- I'll never forget the first horse I rode for the Hobby family, probably because it was also the first horse I ever rode in a recognized pari-mutuel race.

She was a nice filly that was a big price and I was just a kid galloping horses at Santa Fe Downs in New Mexico. Gerald Hobby, Steve's dad, took me aside and he said, "You know what, this filly's good, she don't do nothing wrong, she's just slow -- so go out and learn something."

It was a great experience for me and like I said, I'll never forget it as long as I live.

Saturday at Saratoga Race Course, I won the Sword Dancer Invitational for Steve with the horse that won last year, a 6-year-old son of A.P. Indy named Telling. It's a real pleasure for me to win a Grade 1 race for these guys. They've been lifelong friends for me and I worked for Steve's dad a long time before I rode that first race. Once we found our way into the winner's circle, I told Steve, "You tell Dad we want this one front and center."

This was the first time I'd ever been on Telling, period. No morning works or anything. He came off a few off-the-board finishes in the United Nations at Monmouth and the Louisville Handicap at Churchill Downs, and he hadn't won a race since last year's edition of the Sword Dancer. So going into the race, I looked at where he'd run his best efforts and what kind of position he was settled into. The other day Steve gave me a few instructions and said in a few of his past races they might have had him a little closer to the pace than he should have been, so I definitely kept that in mind.

He broke well, and I really felt like I was in a great spot. When they quickened up the backside I felt like they were going a little early, and it was kind of scaring me a bit because I was having a little trouble just being inside. My horse was bobbling because there was some chewed up ground down there on the rail. I actually was going to try and maneuver my way toward the outside, but when we turned for home the horse that was inside just kind of dropped off and I dove my way down toward the fence.

When I dove to the fence it was like my horse found new life and jumped up in the bridle. At that time, those horses that had quickened had pretty much evened off and I hadn't even asked my horse to quicken a whole lot except for 50 or 60 yards before we got to the quarter pole. I threw a couple crosses on him and got him in gear and when I showed him the daylight down inside there he went to digging and I went to riding left-handed on him. He was giving me what he had and he put them away the last 16th of a mile and ran a heck of a race.

He's an old pro, he's done this a lot, 23 starts in his lifetime. These long-running turf horses hit a comfortable stride and my job is to figure out what that is and let them get comfortable. I felt like I did so early on in the race, and he made me happy at the end. That's my second Grade 1 victory of the season at Saratoga, so all-in-all I'd say we have plenty to be thankful for.