Winning trainer Shug McGaughey (Kathleen O.): “It wasn’t the mile and a sixteenth. We got an outside post going around the first turn the first time and she kind of drifted out a bit, anyway. I think she wants to run a distance of ground. Upstart is by Flatter and she’s out of an Arch mare and that was one of the things that attracted me to her when I saw her pedigree. She just does everything right. She laid in there and Javier you can see when he kind of let her run up to him, she does it pretty easy. He said from there he just kind of let her cruise.”

“I figured that Todd’s filly [Goddess of Fire] was going to be the one that we were going to have to chase and it was. This is kind of a miracle. The [owner] gets one horse, and it’s this one. If he doesn’t have any more fun, which he will, he’s had a lot of it.”

“We’ll see how she comes out of it. Obviously the Kentucky Oaks is a big spot for me. I really like the Oaks. I’ve won it one time. I remember the thrill and I’d like to have it again. The long stretch at Churchill Downs, maybe it will be for her.”

Winning Owner Patrick Kearney (Winngate Stables): “This is just awesome. A year ago I didn’t own a horse. I told Shug, we’d known each other for a long time, ‘I’d like to do something different and get some excitement in my life. Do you mind if I get a horse?’ He said you don’t get one horse, you get two.” So long story short, in Ocala last year he picked out Kathleen O. Then there was another horse we picked out called Cloudy. This is just incredible. I know I’m living a dream. It’s just wonderful.”

Winning jockey Javier Castellano (Kathleen O.): “I had a beautiful trip. I had no question at all that she would handle two turns. She has strong power at the finish. I like the way she did it today, nice and easy with a strong finish. She has a lot of potential. I think she’s going to be fun in the future.”

Runner-up trainer Todd Pletcher (Goddess of Fire): “She ran super. Luis tried to spread the race in the middle of the turn and the favorite just ran her down, but I was pleased with her effort.”

Runner-up jockey Luis Saez (Goddess of Fire): “We just got run down. The winner is a good filly. I knew she was right there and I tried to stay in front of her and make my move a little early so I could get away from her, but we were second-best.”