Close Hatches staying the Breeders' Cup Distaff course

ARCADIA, Calif. – The top New York-based candidates for the Breeders’ Cup Distaff will be equine riddles if they ship to California later this month.

Close Hatches baffled everyone last Sunday at Keeneland, finishing fourth as the odds-on favorite in the Grade 1 Spinster Stakes. Nonetheless, plans call for Close Hatches to run in the Distaff, Garrett O’Rourke, racing manager for her owner, Juddmonte Farms, said Wednesday.

Belle Gallantey also surprised, romping at 23-1 in the Beldame on Sept. 27 at Belmont Park. It was her second Grade 1 win from her last three starts. She is not the same Belle Gallantey who finished second in a $20,000 claiming race the last time she raced in California.

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The New York-based Close Hatches and Belle Gallantey are among a large group that could enter the 1 1/8-mile, $2 million Distaff. Beholder is the early favorite. Other contenders include Kentucky Oaks winner Untapable and Grade 1 winner Iotapa.

Close Hatches’s last start is a mystery; she had won four straight before her Spinster misfire.

“She came out well, which is good,” O’Rourke said. “It’s a little bit of a head-scratcher, with no real explanation. This is one of those situations where you wish horses could talk.”

Close Hatches returned Tuesday to trainer Bill Mott’s stable at Belmont Park. “He’ll watch her the next couple weeks,” O’Rourke said. “Hopefully, we can give her a pass. We’ll plan on coming to California unless something shows up.”

Belle Gallantey also is under Distaff consideration, though a decision on whether she will run is pending. Since she was claimed Dec. 19 for $35,000, Belle Gallantey has won five races and $851,400 from seven starts for owner Michael Dubb and partners and trainer Rudy Rodriguez.

Options for Belle Gallantey include the Distaff and the Grade 3, $200,000 Turnback the Alarm on Oct. 26 at Belmont. Dubb said a decision regarding the Distaff would be made “in the next week or so.”

Belle Gallantey, who is cataloged for the Fasig-Tipton sale in November, would be a serious contender if she runs in the Distaff.

“If Belle Gallantey went in the race, she’d have the highest last-race Beyer (103), and her Ragozin number was good, too,” Dubb said. We do have some concern that she might not like a hard track like they have in California.”

It was a relatively quiet week for other Distaff candidates stabled at Santa Anita.

Untapable, who worked a slow half-mile Sunday, schooled at the gate Wednesday. She will have a longer workout this weekend. Untapable shipped to Santa Anita immediately following her Sept. 20 win in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx.

Beholder worked three furlongs Tuesday in 38.20. “It was just an easy breeze, just to let her stretch her legs a little,” trainer Richard Mandella said. “We’ll let her do a little more next week.”

Beholder won the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes on Sept. 27, her eighth win from nine starts at Santa Anita. The race was her first start in 3 1/2 months.

Tiz Midnight, the runner-up in the Zenyatta, worked a half-mile Monday in 49.20. “She went real easy, looked good,” trainer Bob Baffert said. “She’s a really big, long-striding filly. She is a late developer.”

Iotapa also worked an easy half-mile Monday in 49.40. She will have a longer workout Sunday or Monday and will need to be examined by a vet to see that she did not bleed. Iotapa bled while finishing third in the Zenyatta.

– additional reporting by David Grening