Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott was
delighted Sunday morning with the way Close Hatches emerged from her 7
1/4-length victory in Saturday’s Grade 1 Mother Goose at Belmont Park.
“She looks great; I’m happy,” said Mott of the Juddmonte
Farms colorbearer, who with the victory earned her first Grade 1 in three
consecutive tries. “(Yesterday) she just kind of shot to the lead and seized the
race at the three-eighths pole, and kept going.
“She trains like she had a race
like that in her. She ran well last time (when second in the Acorn) and
didn’t embarrass anyone (when seventh) in the Kentucky Oaks, although probably
that wasn’t her best race. She ran very average in the Oaks, and good in the
Acorn, and real good yesterday.”
According to Mott, the Grade 1, $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks going 1 1/8 miles
around two turns at Saratoga on July 20 remains the next logical
target.
Of more immediate concern is Saturday’s Grade 2, $200,000
New York for turf fillies and mares, in which Starformer looks to rebound from
an eighth-place finish over soft footing in the Sheepshead Bay.
The five-year-old Dynaformer mare turned up for the 1 1/4-mile
race Sunday morning with a six-furlong breeze over Belmont’s firm inner turf in 1:14.
“She went really, really well, and did it on the bridle,”
Mott stated. “So, she was good.”
Also on the worktab for Mott was his other star three-year-old
filly, Ashland winner Emollient, who breezed five furlongs on the inner grass in 1:01
2/5 in
preparation for an expected start in the Grade 1, $350,000 American Oaks on July 13 at Hollywood Park.
“We’ve found out with Emollient that synthetic and turf is
going to be a little bet better than the dirt,” he said, adding that the
promising sophomore filly Tapicat, winner of the February 2 Florida Oaks at Tampa
Bay Downs last out, would likely target the Grade 2, $200,000 Lake George on
July 24 at Saratoga.
Mott also confirmed that Flat Out, whose four-race unbeaten
streak at Belmont ended when he was third in the May 27 Metropolitan Handicap,
was under consideration for the Grade 2, $350,000 Suburban Handicap on July 6 at
Big Sandy.
“He runs well here,” the trainer noted. “We didn’t get it
done in the Met Mile, which we wanted to, and maybe we’d give him another
opportunity here. I would think the Suburban might not be as tough as the Met
Mile was. If we were to wait for the (Grade 1, $750,000) Whitney (on August 3 at Saratoga) we’d
have to wait another month and I’m not sure the horse needs another month.”
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