Winning Time: 1:46.07<br> Winning Margins: 2, 1 ½, 2 ½<br> Winning Payoff: $20.40<br> Fractions: :25.03, :50.03, 1:14.25, 1:39.28<br> Order of finish: Hades, Domestic Product, Fierceness, Inveigled, Dancing Groom, Otello, Sea Streak

Winning owner Jonathan Green, D. J. Stable (Hades): “This is what you hope for. You hope you have a horse that’s this good that can carry your dreams into another level for the Florida Derby and then the Kentucky Derby. The thing that was so exciting to me about this race was not only the way that Joe campaigned the horse, which was outstanding. He knows how to handle a horse and get him into the Triple Crown races. But I was so happy that our horse went eyeball-to-eyeball with a champ and put him away. To me, that really shows something. It means the horse really wants to [win], and that’s something you can’t teach.”

“I think you’ve got to at least play the next card and hopefully go to the Florida Derby. I know it’s cliché but you have to take it one race at a time. You just have to enjoy it and get to the next one and hopefully hit the board in that one and just keep going. But it’s great to have 20 points under your belt already.”

Winning trainer Joe Orseno (Hades): “The plan was to go to the lead, but if somebody was pushing him he was going to rate him. It looked like he started to do that when that one horse went up to him, and then Paco had to go. He knew it. When the horse accelerates, he’s just got another gear at the top of the stretch. He showed it to us last time. Of course, a champion eyeballs him and he dug in and took off. He ran away from a very good horse. It was our day today. We’ll see next time, but right now we’ll enjoy the moment.”

“I don’t think we’ve gotten to the bottom of him yet. If you know me, I didn’t have him peaked today. I know what it takes if you’re going to campaign a horse. It was like, we’ll have him ready for today, and this was our plan today, but this was today’s plan. It’s not the ideal plan if you’re trying to win the Derby or even get there, but for today it worked.”

“I’m going to let the horse tell us. Right now I would say no [to the Fountain of Youth], but if the horse is sharp … he’s lightly raced. He’s run five and a half and seven furlongs. It’s not like he’s been pushed.”

“The owners have been with me for a long time and their partner, Robert Cotran, he’s been with me just as long. It’s great. We put the two of them together. They didn’t know each other when it happened but they know each other now.”

Winning jockey Paco Lopez (Hades): “It was an easy lead. Nobody wanted to take the lead so I took it. My horse was looking around a little bit for more company but he ran very good. I let him gallop out through the wire to teach him a little more.”

“He likes to fight. He beat the Breeders’ Cup winner. Maybe the Breeders’ Cup winner wasn’t 100 percent ready, but I know my horse and ran very good today.”

Todd Pletcher, trainer of beaten favorite and third-place finisher Fierceness: “He didn’t get off to a very good start. The inside horse bumped him pretty good and then he got sandwiched and kind of had to shove him into the race and try to get the position we wanted, which we eventually did. But, he had to overcome a pretty rough start to get there. It seemed like he got into a good rhythm and straightened away for home and just kind of flattened out a little bit. Disappointed in the outcome. I think if you watch the replay of the start, it was a pretty rough start, kind of similar to what happened in the Champagne. If he doesn’t get away well, he doesn’t get into the flow of the race the same way.”

“I don’t think we’re going to change any plans. We’ll obviously assess how the horse comes out of the race. We know he’s better than that, so we’ve got to regroup a little bit and do better next time. He’s shown that he can recover from a subpar performance with a good one.”

John Velazquez, jockey of beaten favorite and third-place finisher Fierceness: “The way he broke out of there, he kind of broke a step slow and got bounced out of there. I had to put him into the race and then sat against him on the backstretch. Somebody moved on the outside and I let him do his thing. [I saw] Paco’s already riding so I kind of sat against him thinking, ‘Let me just wait.’ When I asked him, he wasn’t there for me.”