Close Hatches wires Apple Blossom

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Close Hatches signaled that she would be a force in the filly-mare ranks this year, as the 4-year-old filly won her second consecutive graded stakes race in the Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park on Friday. She wired the field by 1 1/4 lengths in the Grade 1, $600,000 fixture, one start after winning her season opener in last month’s Grade 2, $200,000 Azeri.

“We were pointing for this race for the past three months, and it’s nice when a plan works out,” said Bill Mott, who trains Close Hatches for Juddmonte Farms.

The Apple Blossom continued the Racing Festival of the South, in which Oaklawn puts on a series of major stakes over the final week of its meet. The festival closes Saturday with the Grade 1, $1 million Arkansas Derby and the Grade 2, $600,000 Oaklawn Handicap. Attendance for the penultimate card of the meet Friday was 21,440, while handle on the 11-race card from all sources was $4,773,776.

Close Hatches ($3.40) assumed command of the Apple Blossom soon after the start of the 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares, taking the field through an opening quarter in 23.47 seconds. Rose to Gold and On Fire Baby attempted to join Close Hatches down the backstretch, but the eventual winner remained in control through a half-mile in 46.79 seconds and six furlongs in 1:10.78. She dug in through the stretch and covered the distance on a fast track in 1:42.75.

“She’s really classy,” said winning rider Joel Rosario. “She takes the lead, and she just keeps on going. I’m happy with the way she won today.”

On Fire Baby, the race’s defending champ, finished second, while it was another length back to Stanwyck in third. The remaining order of finish was Let Faith Arise in fourth and Rose to Gold.

Close Hatches gave Mott his fourth win in the Apple Blossom, following Escena (1998), Sefa’s Beauty (1985), and Heatherten (1984).

“I think the Apple Blossom is the first Grade 1 I ever won,” said Mott, a Hall of Fame trainer.

Close Hatches was the 121-pound highweight in this year’s Apple Blossom, which was the third Grade 1 win of her career, following the Mother Goose and the Cotillion. She closed out her 3-year-old season with a runner-up finish in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff and was a finalist for an Eclipse Award in the sophomore filly division. This year, she’s twice traveled to Oaklawn from her winter base of Florida.

“She’s become more professional with more races,” Mott said. “She’s got an interesting running style. She can take it on the lead. If they outfoot her, she’s tractable enough she can stalk horses. We’ve shipped her in and out of here. She travels very well, seems to take to most racetracks. She’s a great one to travel around the country.”

Mott said the Grade 1, $1 million Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park on June 7 is the next objective for Close Hatches.

Close Hatches earned $360,000 for her win in the Apple Blossom, which was her seventh career victory from 10 starts. She is a daughter of the Unbridled’s Song stallion First Defence and was bred in Kentucky by Millsec LTD. Close Hatches has earned $1,847,300.