Batten Down

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott will saddle Batten Down in pursuit of his first Travers win.

Like Dornoch, Batten Down already boasts a win at 10 furlongs, and like Unmatched Wisdom, he has also bested elders. Unlike his two rivals, he has achieved both feats at once when annexing a 1 1/4-mile maiden for 3-year-olds and up in April at Churchill Downs. He followed with a successful stakes debut with a wire-to-wire victory in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby on June 22 at Thistledown, one start before an even third to Fierceness in the Jim Dandy.

Batten Down is a full-brother to active multiple graded stakes-winner Scylla [entered in Saturday’s Grade 1 Ballerina] and the now-retired dual graded stakes-winner Tacitus with all three horses – and their mother, the Champion Close Hatches, trained by Mott. The veteran conditioner acknowledged his contender has a tall task ahead of him.

“We are certainly not one of the favorites. There are some other horses that will get a lot more action at the windows than us,” Mott said. “We are in there and we are going to give it our best shot. It is a nice race, and we think he deserves a shot. We haven’t talked about strategy yet – we will sit down and see what it looks like on paper. The horse is doing well.”