Close Hatches looks formidable in Spinster Stakes
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland officials say one of their primary objectives in switching the main track back to dirt was to entice the top-flight horses who were dodging them when Polytrack was the main surface.
And just like that, Close Hatches, the leader of the filly and mare handicap division, will be here Sunday to run in one of the track’s long-standing signature events, the Grade 1, $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes.
Close Hatches already has outrun the likes of Beholder and Princess of Sylmar while ascending to divisional supremacy in remaining unbeaten in four starts this year. The 4-year-old Close Hatches happens to be owned by Juddmonte, the powerhouse stable that won the Spinster with Emollient in 2013, the final time the race was run over Polytrack.
Close Hatches is listed as the 3-5 program favorite for the 1 1/8-mile Spinster, although she could be a tick or two lower as the apparent lone speed and class of the race by post time at 5:45 p.m. Eastern. She comes off a five-length romp in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign in the mud at Saratoga.
“She’s got a lot of confidence because she’s been winning, and she’s coming off a good race,” Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott told Keeneland publicity after Close Hatches made her first tour of the new dirt surface Thursday. “We just hope that she handles the surface as well as she handled the last one.”
Joel Rosario again rides Close Hatches, who will break from post 2.
The Spinster comes 26 days before Close Hatches is expected to face Beholder, Untapable, and the rest of the filly-and-mare elite in the Oct. 31 Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Santa Anita.
Clearly the chief threats to pull the major upset are Don’t Tell Sophia (post 5, Joe Rocco Jr.) and Molly Morgan (post 6, Corey Lanerie).
Molly Morgan has run respectably in her last three starts, but it was a four-length breakthrough in the June 14 Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs that has led trainer Dale Romans to keep trying these major races.
“I mean it’ll probably take her absolute best to beat a filly as good as Close Hatches, but I think she has it in her,” Romans said.
The six-horse field is the smallest in the Spinster since Take Charge Lady prevailed over five others in 2003. This is the 10th year the race has been sponsored by Juddmonte, which actually had Proviso finish first in the 2009 running before she was disqualified to second.
The Grade 3 Dixiana Bourbon Stakes directly precedes the Spinster as race 8.
After Sunday, Keeneland goes dark two days before racing resumes Wednesday with the Grade 3 Jessamine Stakes for 2-year-old fillies on turf.
Juddmonte Spinster Stakes, race 9
KEY CONTENDERS
Close Hatches (Last 3 Beyers: 99-103-100)
◗ A winner in 9 of 12 career starts, her three losses all came in major Grade 1 events last year at 3 when she was seventh in the Kentucky Oaks, second to Midnight Lucky in the Acorn, and second to Beholder in the BC Distaff.
◗ Mott, ironically, benefitted from the disqualification of Proviso five years ago as the trainer of the declared winner, Mushka. He entered this meet with 38 stakes wins at Keeneland, third behind D. Wayne Lukas (50) and Todd Pletcher (40).
Don’t Tell Sophia (Last 3 Beyers: 91-93-93)
◗ A mere $1,000 yearling, this 6-year-old mare has become the definition of an overachiever, winning 10 of 21 starts and earning nearly $680,000. She returned from a nearly six-month layoff to post a last-to-first triumph four weeks ago in the Locust Grove at Churchill.
◗ Trainer Phil Sims: “She would never pass the vet if we tried to sell her. She’s had throat surgery, hoof problems, a few other little things. There’s nothing wrong with her heart, though.”
Molly Morgan (Last 3 Beyers: 87-90-87)
◗ Besides the Fleur de Lis, this 5-year-old mare also has run creditably in runner-up finishes in the Grade 1 La Troienne and Locust Grove and in winning the Grade 3 Gardenia at Ellis Park.
◗ Romans: “I’ve won six Grade 1’s at Keeneland, but the Spinster would have to rank among the best.”