Linda Rice, winning trainer of Kid Cruz (No. 1): "I was a little nervous about whether they were going to go fast enough today. Irad [Ortiz] made a strong effort from the gate to make sure he got engaged earlier, so we just didn't hand it over to a slow pace. He did a beautiful job. The horse seems to be getting better all the time - perfecting his trade.

"We've got Saratoga coming up, and I'm very excited about that. Obviously, he's got to meet each goal, and today was a big one. These are tough races at Belmont Park and he got through unscathed. I think he qualifies to go to Saratoga and hopefully point for the Jim Dandy [Grade 2, $600,000, July 26] and the Travers [Grade 1, $1.25 million, August 23]."

Irad Ortiz, Jr., winning jockey aboard Kid Cruz (No. 1): "He's a little lazy, but he was closer the whole way [than he was in previous races]. It was positive. I was closer today, and I knew he was going to give me a kick at the end."

Mike Hushion, trainer of runner-up Captain Serious (No. 1A): "He certainly didn't get any breaks on the pace; it was a very legitimate pace. I haven't really though past this race. We'll learn what we can learn from it and move forward."

Jose Ortiz, jockey aboard runner-up Captain Serious (No. 1A): "It was a great performance. [Hushion] did a great job with the horse. We've been breezing him to get him to go a mile and a sixteenth. He's a nice horse and got beat by a good horse."