I'm always optimistic at the beginning for the season. I'm always optimistic. I keep going. A bad day at the ballpark is better than a good day anywhere else.

That's what we wanted from the very beginning.

It's more crowded this year. There's a mad rush in the beginning trying to run around and get all the free little stuff. We probably won't get too many goodies now.

The major stakes that we're announcing today are just the beginning of what is sure to be a very successful 2006 racing year in New Jersey . When the overnight stakes schedule is added in, total stakes purses will top $8-million and overnight purses will start at $330,000 per day, the highest ever at Monmouth Park .

We've been in a narrow range all day with light buying, but this is to be expected at the beginning of the new year.

I've worked out every day since the beginning of summer. It's a lot of basic stuff, just making the muscles you use for gymnastics, your arms and legs, stronger.