SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- Happy Whitney Day! It's great to say that after a victory. If you read below these first few paragraphs, you'll see my pre-race thoughts and hopes. Now I can say even more from the winner's circle.

Going into this race we were super confident but it's just one of those things where you don't want to say too much so you can let the horse do the talking. Blame has been trained magnificently for this race and every other race I've been aboard. He's a great older horse and I can't wait until we go further.

If you watched me ride him, I never hit him. I really thought I was going to get to Quality Road even quicker. I know Blame and he's going to wear him down and keep coming. He'll run all day. I knew when I first got to Quality Road, if he squirted and tried to go again, I might be in a little bit of trouble because I didn't have the extra gear. I was just going to stay doing what I was doing. He kept staying on and in that last eighth of a mile, when I finally got right to Quality Road, I said 'I got him'.

I can't speak for Quality Road, but our horse came in here and actually even had me a little confused today because he was so useful early on in the race. He threw me right in behind the leaders. When they slowed down, I actually had to take hold of him because I was right on Quality Road's rear going around the first turn. I was wondering whether to take hold of him or let him go on and do what he was doing. I kind of had to play with him back and forth.

I was riding my race and with all the shuffling around in front of me, we were just in a really good spot the whole time. I actually moved up at about the three-eighths pole and felt pretty confident, I was just biding my time until we turned for home. I didn't want to sit too long because he's got a long, consistent run. I just wanted to make sure that when we turned for home I did have him in a good place with a long stride like he has and I thought he could wear Quality Road down.

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I'm back aboard one of my favorite horses of the season in this race, and that's Blame, who won the Stephen Foster for me last time out at Churchill Downs. He's a horse I've been very excited about all year because of how talented he is, and I told his trainer, Al Stall, I'd travel anywhere to ride him.

So here we are in New York, Quality Road is looming as the prohibitive favorite and that's definitely for a reason. He's a horse that's well proven and everybody knows how talented an individual he is. Our horse is a Grade 1 winner but he's up and coming. I don't even think he's hit his best form yet and I don't think the 1 1/8 miles is even his best distance, but he's going to have to step it up today to the next level.

This is a difficult race. It's a short field but we do have one or two other horses to help with the pace scenario. Unfortunately, with Quality Road sometimes the faster they go, the faster he runs. So it's kind of just something we're going to have to get into and see what happens. Our horse ran here last year in the Curlin and won; he ran good here so that's always something you have going for you.

The good thing is that you always have a changing of the guard. You have horses that are up and coming and then you have the favorites. The favorites are favorites because on paper they're in really good form and they're running fast. But those horses don't stay there forever. Other horses maneuver and sometimes horses run better in some races and not so good in others. It's not rocket science to figure this out, so as a jockey you just hope you're on the one that's the victor when a changing of the guard occurs.

Al Stall has been talking to me and my agent about our horse and what he's been telling us, Ive been glad to hear. Especially for a horse who is improving and coming into his own, his confidence is building and this is the first year he's taking on older horses. He's really becoming one of the big dogs. Off a layoff it's really hard to get a horse cranked up, especially a horse that runs a route of ground like these do, and it takes a couple races to get a good foundation into them, especially horses that are this talented and fast. You never want to work them super fast because you don't want to hurt them. You wonder how fit they really are, but Al knows what he's doing and what he's working with.

Today, with a short field, if Quality Road is able to put one away early, Im not sure how much we can do about it. If he's able to put one away and gallop along free out there for some time it's going to be hard for me to get to him quick enough to put pressure on him or catch him before we turn for home. Blame is a horse that's pretty steady, he just keeps coming. We know that when the time for stamina comes around, he's there for that. He's a beautiful mover with a great mind.

I'm excited about the mile and a quarter races, but he's tactical enough that we can do some certain things with him today, well just have to take it as it comes and see what happens.