“This is a total grudge match,” said winning jockey Garrett Gomez. “These two fillies butt heads and when they get together it is a grudge match, so they got a good little rivalry going. They are both nice fillies and they both ran tremendous races. I think this really cool for the sport.”
Winning trainer Jerry Hollendorfer was confident in his filly's chances.
“I always have confidence that I think she is going to do it,” said winning trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. “There are always moments in the race when you do not know, but once they hit the far turn, I thought there was a good chance she would win. I do not think you can be surprised and we have the up most respect for Larry Jones and his filly. We have hooked up six times and each time it has been exciting. We have come out well a couple times and we have been beaten a couple of times, but that is okay because it is not supposed to be easy.”
The week before the race, trainer J. Larry Jones did not think his filly Havre de Grace should have been the high weight at 124 pounds with Blind Luck being assigned 122 pounds.
“Tell me two pounds does not make a difference,” said trainer J. Larry Jones. “She won six Grade I’s versus our one and we are the high weight - that makes a lot of sense. I probably should not have run.”
Havre de Grace may have finished second, but she battled until the finish.
“We had a great trip,” said jockey Ramon Dominguez aboard Havre de Grace. “My horse dragged me to the front and turning for home she gave me all she had and she really kept on digging. It was just a head bob and the other filly got up just in time. But my filly tried very hard.”