Patrick Smullen (jockey, Muhannak, 1st) - "Everything went to plan. As I anticipated, there wasn't a lot of early pace. I wanted to put myself in the position that I could go on the back turn. It worked out beautifully. The horse fought all the way to the wire.

"Great credit goes to the trainer (Ralph Beckett). He's improved this horse unbelievably over the last six months. I'm just privileged to have the ride on him. It's a dream come true to win a Breeders' Cup. It's something I've wanted to do since I was a kid. To win a Breeders' Cup race, I can't explain it."

Ralph Beckett (trainer, Muhannak, 1st) - "He got the perfect trip. Pat (Smullen) just said they were crawling. We worked it out beforehand that he had to be running going into the bend. Whether that meant he hit the front too soon or not, he had to be rolling going into the bend. He got that part of it right. I felt that he was just idling a little bit there the last 50 yards, but maybe he was running on empty. I don't know. Who cares?

"He's trained very well all week. He's not an easy horse to train. A big, big part of this is the team at home because he hasn't been easy."

Edgar Prado (jockey, Church Service, 2nd) - "He walked out of the gate. I wasn't worried about the pace so I was just biding my time, hoping that he would have some run at the end - and he did. I thought I was going to get there but I didn't."

Mike Mitchell (trainer, Church Service, 2nd and Big Booster, 3rd) - "I just felt like both horses were training so good, they deserved a shot. Both were ridden the way I wanted. I would have been happier if we had won, but they just got beat.

"It was great hearing Shea (daughter) singing the national anthem before the races."

Rafael Bejarano (jockey, Big Booster, 3rd) - "My horse ran well; really well. He did get a little intimidated when that horse (stablemate Church Service) came up outside him. He stopped running for a bit and I had to get after him. But he came on and I'm very happy with how well he ran."

Frankie Dettori (jockey, Sixties Icon, 5th) - "The pace was too slow. I didn't want to have to go nine-wide, so I waited some on the turn (second time); it wasn't a matter of being in trouble, really. But when I was clear, he didn't have his usual turn of foot. If the pace had been faster, I think he would have done better."