Batten Down, a blue-blooded homebred owned by Juddmonte, took the lead firstly and by no means was headed as he posted an upset victory within the $500,000 Grade 3 Ohio Derby June 22 at Thistledown.
Closely favored Catching Freedom, who received the Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby and ran a strong fourth within the Kentucky Derby introduced by Woodford Reserve, completed off the board in fourth.
Batten Down, a 3-year-old colt by Tapit out of Juddmonte’s champion older feminine Shut Hatches, is a full brother to a number of Grade 2 winner Tacitus, who received the 2019 Tampa Bay Derby and Wooden Memorial and completed third in that yr’s Kentucky Derby, second within the Belmont Stakes, and second within the Travers Stakes.
Educated by Invoice Mott and ridden by Junior Alvarado, Batten Down was stepping up off an 8 3/4-length maiden win April 30 going 1 1/4 miles at Churchill Downs. That efficiency put him into account for the Belmont Stakes introduced by NYRA Bets, however Juddmonte and Mott selected Ohio for his or her bettering colt making his fifth profession begin.
The unique Ohio Derby subject of 10 was lowered to 6 with 4 race day scratches. Ranging from the surface publish Saturday, Batten Down broke outward barely firstly, then straightened and sped to the entrance with a flashy opening quarter in :22.86. He hit the half-mile mark in :46.82, holding a five-length lead at that time.
The Ken McPeek trainee Gould’s Gold was Batten Down’s closest pursuer all through. Batten Down held a three-length lead by means of six furlongs in 1:11.20. Though he stayed on his left lead for a lot of the stretch run, he straightened late to safe the win by 1 3/4 lengths over Gould’s Gold. Ultimate time for 1 1/8 miles on the quick grime was 1:50.20. Batten Down paid $8.60 to win.
Copper Tax completed third. Grade 3 Withers Stakes winner Uncle Heavy and the maiden Charleston accomplished the order of end behind 2-5 favourite Catching Freedom who completed fourth.
Batten Down has received twice in 5 begins and earned $394,850. He now looms a contender for the summer time’s main 3-year-old stakes. — Pete Denk
