Close Hatches Big Threat in Cotillion
Image:
Description:
Close Hatches looks to score her second Grade 1 in the Cotillion on Saturday (Photo courtesy of NYRA/Adam Coglinese).
With two graded stakes wins this season, including the Grade 1 Mother Goose in her most recent start, Close Hatches could be tough to beat in the $1 million, Grade 1 Cotillion Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Saturday at Parx Racing.
Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott with Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith aboard, the Kentucky-bred filly looks to add another Grade 1 win to her record after a three-month layoff. She is one of 10 fillies entered in the 1 1/16-mile dirt race.
Undefeated Sweet Lulu added a graded stakes victory to her resume in her last start when she won the Grade 1 Test Stakes. Jockey Julien Leparoux has the mount for trainer Jerry Hollendorfer with Sweet Lulu running in a race longer than a mile for the first time in the Cotillion.
Close Hatches and Sweet Lulu will be joined by graded stakes winners My Happy Face and Seaneen Girl. Carnival Court, the stakes-placed half-sister to champion Royal Delta, looks to win her first stakes race in the Cotillion with Promise Me More also going for her first stakes victory. Stakes winners Flash Forward, Dancing Afleet, and Street Girl round out the Cotillion field.
$1 million Cotillion Stakes
Saturday, Parx Racing, Race 10, 5:10 p.m. ET
3-year-old fillies, 1 1/16 miles on the dirt