gallo blue chip's owner, martin scharf, described his feelings about the horse's north america cup victory, saying, "winning the north america cup was a thrill and a relief. even if you know a horse is good, he has to prove it. i've been in this business for 10 years and you never really know if you have that caliber of a horse. the horse's trainer, mark ford, said of him in july of 2000, "he's a little hard to train. you won't be impressed if you train him in the middle of the week, but he is good when he races."