Batten Down Leads Gate to Wire in Ohio Derby

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Batten Down Leads Gate to Wire in Ohio Derby
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Photo: Adam Coglianese
Batten Down wins the Ohio Derby at Thistledown

Juddmonte's blue-blooded homebred Batten Down  took the lead at the start and never was headed as he posted an upset victory in the $500,000 Ohio Derby (G3) June 22 at Thistledown.

Heavily favored Catching Freedom , who won the Louisiana Derby, ran a solid fourth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) and most recently finished third in the Preakness Stakes (G1), finished fourth. The stretch-running Constitution   colt tried to make an early move at the free-running winner, but his advance stalled and he was passed late for third place by Rose Petal Stable's Copper Tax .


Batten Down, a 3-year-old colt by Tapit   out of Juddmonte's champion older female Close Hatches , is a full sibling to classic-placed, multiple grade 2 winner Tacitus   and impressive 2024 Shawnee Stakes (G3) winner Scylla . Tacitus, who stands for $10,000 at Taylor Made Stallions in Nicholasville, Ky., has first-crop yearlings in 2024.

Trained by Bill 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 performance put him under consideration for the Belmont Stakes (G1), but Juddmonte and Mott decided on Ohio for their improving colt making his fifth career start.

The original Ohio Derby field of 10 was lowered to six with race day scratches of Frizzante , Deposition , Who's the King , and Mugatu . Starting from the outside post Saturday, Batten Down broke outward slightly at the start, then straightened and sped to the front with a flashy opening quarter in :22.86. He hit the half-mile mark in :46.82, holding a five-length lead at that point.

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The Ken McPeek trainee Gould's Gold , who is co-owned by McPeek's Magdalena Racing and two of the owners of Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mystik Dan —4G Racing and Lance Gasaway—was Batten Down's closest pursuer throughout.

Batten Down held a three-length lead through six furlongs in 1:11.20. Although he stayed on his left lead for much of the stretch run, he straightened late to secure the win by 1 3/4 lengths over Gould's Gold. Final time for 1 1/8 miles on the fast dirt was 1:50.20. Batten Down paid $8.60 to win.

Tapit, now the sire of 103 graded black-type winners, stands at Gainesway in Lexington for $185,000.

 

Copper Tax came to Ohio a winner of seven of 10 starts, including the Private Terms and Federico Tesio stakes at Laurel Park. Trainer Gary Capuano resisted running in the Preakness with the Maryland-based colt and that move resulted in a third-place finish here, the Copper Bullet   colt's first graded placing.

Withers Stakes (G3) winner Uncle Heavy  and the maiden Charleston  completed the order of finish after 2-5 favorite Catching Freedom.

Batten Down has won twice in five starts and earned $394,850. He debuted with a sixth-place finish going seven furlongs in one of the fastest maiden races of the winter at Gulfstream Park, won by Speak Easy .

After finishing second and third in subsequent maiden races at Gulfstream and then Keeneland, Batten Down took a big step forward when stretched to 1 1/4 miles at Churchill. He now looms a contender for the summer's major 3-year-old stakes.