"It came out of the gate finished".
But by the time Mr. Gates finished, his voice seemed to catch as he concluded that General McChrystal was retiring "with the gratitude of the nation he did so much to protect, with the reverence of the troops he led at every level, with his place secure as one of America's greatest warriors".
Asked what the World Cup meant to him, the man praised as the Comandante after the 7-1 win against Brazil by O Globo, talked about "the beginning of this team", under Jürgen Klinsmann at the World Cup in Germany, and remembered the rapturous reception the inexperienced and incomplete side had received at the fan fest at the Brandenburg Gate after finishing third in that competition.
The bus meandered slowly from Albert Square through Princess Street, Portland Street, Deansgate, then St Mary's Gate before finishing in Corporation Street at 20 04 BST - almost 20 minutes behind schedule - to constant cheers and the chorus of Championes.
In his first start, he was bumped leaving the gate, and finished fourth.
The big, black son of Our Emblem, however, stumbled at the gate and finished eighth.
Allison Forsyth of Canada lost a pole when she hit a gate and finished back in the field.
Going around the final curve a little too eagerly, he slammed into a gate and finished the race with the orange pylon stuck in his front wheel well.
Sharp Cat's chief rivals figure to be Stop Traffic, who won the Ballerina at Saratoga last month, and Colonial Minstrel, who got roughed up in the starting gate and finished fifth, although she won five in a row earlier in the year.
