2024 Travers Stakes Spotlight - Batten Down

[Music] hi everyone Matthew to Santa here with Nair B here with another Travers spotlight video and this one is on baton down for trainer Bill Mt but before we get to him make sure to press that like button on this video And subscribe to the new Nair bets YouTube channel where you can get race previews full card analyses racing live streams handicapping and betting tutorials as well as these sorts of specialty videos on big races so listen let's talk about the Travers and it's going to be a great race on Saturday so many great horses so many great prices potentially to go after and one of those is batten down for trainer Bill Mt this is a horse that took a little while to break its Maiden but showed a lot of ability in his other graded Stakes appearance where he won the Ohio Derby at thistledown a couple of races ago the zor with a big pedigree that again an intrig leing Runner and one of those other horses that could be part of the early Pace scenario so feel like there's a lot of intrigue around a horse like baton down I feel like some people are maybe a little bullish on him than others he's a horse that I don't want to say is divisive I think some people are looking him as a legitimate value play other people are maybe looking at him as a little bit more of a pass but he's an interesting horse and couple of reasons to really like him first bill M Jr Alvarado they've been having a lot of great success obviously we just saw the win on Arthur's ride not all that long ago in the Whitney uh and obviously we saw Junior got a big win you know several months ago with senior abusador as well so and Bill M has been having such a good year a lot of really classy horses he's such a good Horseman and one of the things that I always admire about Bill Mt is that he tends to place his horses respectfully and he puts them in places where they're going to be successful and he doesn't try to push a horse if he doesn't feel they're up to the task and the fact that he comes back with another grade one after running in the jimm Dandy and running third that day and really shows a lot of confidence he because we're gonna take a shot here in this race and another thing A lot of people are going to focus on is the pedigree sired by tapet dam is close hatches why is that significant well he is the full brother to tacitus now tacitus had a reputation of always coming up just short in the big spots never quite being good enough to win obviously was a greatest takes winner in his own right but some of the big races he would always come up second always an honest runner though always gave his best no two ways about that he's also the full sibling to Bill M's other horse that's gonna be running on Travers day Sila who is gonna be running in the ballerina she's a supremely talented Philly and a greated Stakes Winner owner own right cutting back and trying grade one company uh in that ballerina handicap which is going to be I think a really good race with vava and society and a couple of other big names in there bosano Sunset I think's a long shot anyway I could talk about that race as well but listen let's stick to Baton down who won the Ohio Derby two back and that was a race right after he broke his Maiden did so impressively too now was the field overwhelming we'll see I mean catching Freedom was a horse I really liked in the Kentucky Derby and that's what one of the horses he beat that day was catching freedom but I also wonder if catching Freedom you know I I didn't really love the move to run him in the pness and then to run him back in the Ohio Derby I just felt like maybe he would be you know kind of all out of you know a lot of that takes a lot of energy to run through the Derby preps then run in the Triple Crown run the first two legs and then come right back and run the Ohio Derby so you know maybe he beat a lesser version of catching Freedom G's gold for Kenny mCP is a nice horse but you know maybe not an elite horse certain uh you know there's another horse in there copper tax who's a horse I actually like quite a bit but again maybe not at this level more of a listed Stakes grade three level horse um but listen baton down last time out goes and runs in the gym Dandy doesn't get the most comfortable trip that day uh and kind of gets pinched back a little bit at the start and you know also ends up weaving around a little bit in traffic honestly doing his best sier Leone impersonation in terms of coming down the stretch but here's the critical part about him is he broke his Maiden at a mile and a quarter so you know he can do the distance and I think that is something you cannot undervalue just last week we saw a horse just basking finished third in the Alabama with the for the Phillies and she was a horse I wasn't really that sure about and you didn't have necessarily the performances and she was kind of stepping up in class A lot but one thing she had was she wanted a mile and a quarter and son of a gun if at the end isn't she coming running and she finishes third by about a length behind that really thrilling finish between Candi and power squeeze but she was right there with Chris Anda support so you know again the ability to do it at the distance I think is something you cannot undervalue and certainly the pedigree would suggest she can handle the distance in this regard let's talk a little bit more about her running his running Style and some of the ability that baton down has in this race so it took a little while to break as maiden and you know typical billmont fashion doesn't rush it but goes to the big time races is Gulf Stream Park for the championship meet uh actually it runs against corporate power in that debut race who finishes fourth that was another race that was a huge race in a lot of ways because you had Speak Easy who's going to be running in the H Allen Jerkins you also had Victory Avenue in that race you had a lot of really good horses in that race so that debut was very informative comes back actually finishes second to corporate power in the next start and runs a really good race there though then comes and it doesn't quite run quite as well kein finishes third though another closeup race finally breaks the maiden going a mile and a quarter and doing it on the front end I think that's the one thing to really see this horse runs a little bit different when he's up front and was able to do that at Church Hill Downs that day even look at the failed Maiden in the second start got out up front almost won that day now he can pass horses okay we he's shown that at least at the maiden level that he can pass some horses he did it in his third start although is much more of a even runner in this regard still did it in gate to wire fashion at Churchill going a mile and a quarter then goes to thistle down steps up immediately into grade three company which I think shows you what billmont thought of this horse clearly this horse always had Talent jmont homebred so there tons of talent here and manages to go gate to wire in that Ohio derby with Junior Alvarado aboard one of the things that I think is so interesting is if you look at those two victories and those are the only two victories the Baton down has notice not just his running style in terms of being up front but notice how many lengths ahead of the second place horse he is it's not just that he's up front he's up front by a significant margin in that Ohio Derby he was up by six lengths nobody was making him run 11 and one to the six fur long Mark or 46 and four to the half he was running those fractions because he wanted to similarly at Church Hill Downs he sitting there two four eight lengths up in that race at different various points now it point should be pointed out both those were speed favoring tracks that day getting out of the front end getting kind of the perfect trip and the perfect set up in this regard and and kind of dictating your terms up on the front end then goes to the Jim Dandy big class test you're facing sier Leone you're facing Fier you're facing a lot of good horses but he finished his third that day you know I thought he held his own in a lot of ways yes he faded late a little bit he didn't necessarily get the trip he wanted he was kind of pinched back I think a little further than he would have ideally liked obviously wants to try to get to the lead if possible but still manages to finish third in that race out of six and I think showy bels in this conversation the question for Baton down and the bigger question for junior Alvarado is what are you going to do when the gates open on Saturday at around 6:10 pm and that's a question we won't have the answer to until around 6:10 pm on Saturday afternoon because I think there's intentionality my colleague at naira Andy Sterling said listen fierceness s Leon torpedo Anna those are the three fastest horses in the race I don't disagree with that they are the three fastest horses in the race but and there's always a but there's something about intentionality intentionality what is your intention and how hellbent are you on getting to the front because that's a legitimate question we saw a race a couple last week the Alabama there was a horse neon icon neon icon was the number eight horse in that race look far outside now if you looked at the time form Pace projectors if you looked at what that horse had done in terms of fractions you would say there's no chance this horse ends up up front and yet the only time that horse won it was close to the PACE but it was a slow pace coming out of the gate what does neon icon do gun it now she wasn't fast enough she just wasn't naturally fast enough to get to the front but she kind of mucked up the early Pace situation because there was intentionality there to try to get to the front as hard as she did I wouldn't be surprised if Junior tries to do the same thing we just saw him went on Arthur's ride and gate dwire fashion in the Whitney in a big spot he's an aggressive jockey he knows that this horse has never won any other way and the only way this horse knows how to win is up front and to get loose and he can run some fast fractions he's not a slow horse okay this is not a horse milking out fractions he can go when he needs to is dorick faster if you just put him next to each other no Riders and just said go probably is fierceness faster probably but again intentionality is so key and listen Louis sias is going to be intentional on dorick he's gonna want to get to the front because he knows dorick needs to get to the front but at the same time Louie also knows what he did in the Belmont where he sat off of CES the gray so he can sit okay that's possible you could sit off that pace if baton Down's really hellbent on getting to the front dornet can sit off of that now question is what's fierceness do right on the far outside then he's now stuck wide or has to take back and actually go behind horses that seems unlikely the point I'm getting at here is bat and Down's a horse that can really have an impact on the pace situation in this race it's one of the reasons I don't necessarily buy the argument that unmatched wisdom is simply a rabbit for Sierra Leon because I think there's plenty of other Pace scenarios in this race to press a pace and to make it a hot early fraction bat and Down's one of those like I said how hard Junior decides to send out of that gate you know and some of this you won't know until they break who breaks well who breaks like you know who just catches a flyer out of the gate Etc who has that natural speed to get to the front baton down has a lot of speed clearly has a lot of ability has the ability to get the mile in a quarter the question is can he do it while being pressed I think that's the bigger question because in those two victories he was clear open lengths of anybody else that's not going to be the case I can guarantee you that he might be able to get to the lead maybe but even if he's there he's getting hounded by dornick by fierceness by thorpedo Anna by unmatched wisdom he's not g to get an easy lead like he did in those other two races I think that's one of the reasons maybe I'm a little bit more skeptical about him but if you go well listen Matthew doesn't need to go to the lead maybe he takes back ah he hasn't really shown the ability to win doing that and again while he's passed maybe a horse or two late when he's been raiding off the pace he's not a horse that dynamically passes other horses particularly at this level I have a feeling I think he's a need to lead horse at least at this point in his career rating off of this pace and behind this pace maybe he can run for third or fourth in that regard maybe his pedigree kind of kicks in he's able to enjoy that Mile in a quarter and he's able to pick off some tiring horses late so if you were able to convince me to use him in some deeper vertical Exotics I wouldn't hate you I would understand where you're coming from here but I have a hard time seeing a path of victory for Baton down in this spot though I think he's a very talented Runner and I quite frankly I look forward to seeing him as a four-year-old because I think Bill M's going to do a good job with him and he's the type of horse that I like seeing come back at four because I think his best races are still ahead of him all right well that'll do it for batting down thank you so much for watching this Travers Spotlight series make sure to check out all of our other Travers Spotlight videos on the other seven contenders in this race make sure to check out our race previews I got AAA clont talking about the Sword Dancer and the person lenson as well as capping the card where myself and Daily Racing fors David aragona go through all 14 races on the Travers Day card and give you our top pick and our Top Value play all right friends my name is Matthew Des sanis wishing you a great and prosperous day at the races and reminding you that it's now post time