Batten Down, a blue-blooded homebred owned by Juddmonte, took the lead at the start and never was headed as he posted an upset victory in the $500,000 Grade 3 Ohio Derby June 22 at Thistledown.

Heavily favored Catching Freedom, who won the Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby and ran a solid fourth in the Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve, finished off the board in fourth.

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Batten Down, a 3-year-old colt by Tapit out of Juddmonte's champion older female Close Hatches, is a full brother to multiple Grade 2 winner Tacitus, who won the 2019 Tampa Bay Derby and Wood Memorial and finished third in that year's Kentucky Derby, second in the Belmont Stakes, and second in the Travers Stakes.

Trained by Bill Mott and ridden by Junior Alvarado, Batten Down was stepping up off an 8 3/4-length maiden win April 30 going 1 1/4 miles at Churchill Downs. That performance put him under consideration for the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, but Juddmonte and Mott decided on Ohio for their improving colt making his fifth career start.

The original Ohio Derby field of 10 was lowered to six with four race day scratches. Starting from the outside post Saturday, Batten Down broke outward slightly at the start, then straightened and sped to the front with a flashy opening quarter in :22.86. He hit the half-mile mark in :46.82, holding a five-length lead at that point.

The Ken McPeek trainee Gould's Gold was Batten Down's closest pursuer throughout. Batten Down held a three-length lead through six furlongs in 1:11.20. Although he stayed on his left lead for much of the stretch run, he straightened late to secure the win by 1 3/4 lengths over Gould's Gold. Final time for 1 1/8 miles on the fast dirt was 1:50.20. Batten Down paid $8.60 to win.

Copper Tax finished third. Grade 3 Withers Stakes winner Uncle Heavy and the maiden Charleston completed the order of finish behind 2-5 favorite Catching Freedom who finished fourth.

Batten Down has won twice in five starts and earned $394,850. He now looms a contender for the summer's major 3-year-old stakes. -- Pete Denk