ARCADIA, CALIF -- When Zenyatta's connections decided to run her in the Classic I kind of perked up a little bit about the Ladies' Classic, because my filly had been running really hard all year and Zenyatta had beat her a couple of times pretty handily. I knew she probably would have ended up second if that mare was in there. Mine is a champion-quality runner but she's no Zenyatta. John Shirreffs did a tremendous job of getting the filly's confidence back up underneath her and having her ready for yesterday. And that's all it was. Really getting her confidence back. Her campaign this summer was very difficult and when you run some tough races like she did, it takes something out of you. I wasn't sure how things would play out after we left the gate; I was actually a little disappointed at that point. She had been a little antsy and she halfway hopped out of there when she broke, and she got pinched a little bit. She's been wanting to just drop back and not help me at all, just completely off the bridle, which is not a good sign. But John told me today that he thought she was back to her old self, and when I got to the first turn and she kind of grabbed me and I said to myself, "You know, I think he's right." That gave me a lot of confidence with her going up into the backside. I felt like they were moving along pretty good, I looked up, and Careless Jewel had snuck away by six or seven lengths and had really started to fly. A couple of the horses started to kind of give chase a little bit, and I just stayed on the fence. She was always traveling really well for me. I actually thought they'd go ahead and start backing up about the three-eighths pole but they kept kicking on and I started to get a little worried. I said, "Man, maybe my clock's off!" Because I felt like we had been moving along pretty solid and stayed like that for quite a ways. So I started making a little run and got her in gear about the five-sixteenths pole, making my move on the outside, and I went around Kent Desormeaux on Mushka (me and him kind of moved together a little bit). All of a sudden, just as we turned for home, they started coming back really solid and she was just finding her best stride. Before I knew it, she had reached the front in quick fashion; she went by the last one and just stayed on really solid. I'm glad she picked yesterday to show up! Today should be interesting. I only have time to go into a couple of runners, but here are my thoughts. Of course I'm looking forward to riding Midshipman and Colonel John, my Dirt Mile and Classic mounts. Codoy -- Juvenile Turf -- I was watching his maiden race and I actually picked him as the winner. He was so wide the whole trip. In his last time out, when he ran second in the Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland, the turf course was really soft and it was his first start on the grass. He ran a really good race and every race he's run a little better, a little better, so it looks like he's a nice little horse. Delta Storm -- Turf Sprint -- It's been a while since I rode him; I actually won on him at Saratoga. I don't think I've ever ridden him down the hill, he's run once down it. The favorite really likes the downhill course, but if they go too fast it looks like my horse will be sitting in a pretty good spot. It looks like he's pretty adaptable. He can be a little further back if they go too fast, and he still comes with a nice little run and if they're going slow he can be up a little closer. The day he ran second to California Flag he was a length and a half off of him. We'll just have to see how things develop. Lookin At Lucky -- Juvenile -- I've liked him since day one. You look at him and he doesn't look like a juvenile, he looks like a 3-year-old colt at the beginning of the year. Mentally he's got a great mind, he adapts to everything really well, he's been in a couple pressured situations like the Del Mar Futurity where he was down inside the whole way. He handled everything. I asked him for more than one run. He did everything really well. His last race he kind of waited on horses -- I thought I was going to win by like 10, but he kind of eased himself on me. Like I said, I've liked him from day one and he just continues to grow. He takes everything as it comes. Courageous Cat -- Mile -- I'm riding him for the first time. I rode his mama [Tranquility Lake] a long time ago. He looks like he's a really nice horse. I was able to breeze him the other day. He likes to play a little bit but he's got a very good attitude and I'm excited to see him out there. He's been running with straight 3-year-olds in his past couple starts. A maiden race to the Breeders' Cup is a completely different story but he ran against older horses early on in his career. He's going to have to take a pretty big step forward, but he looks like the kind of horse that can.