BY GULFSTREAM PARK PRESS OFFICE (Edited)
HALLANDALE BEACH, FL – Breeze Easy and Robert Cotran’s ultra-consistent 4-year-old gelding Latch the Hatch, first or second in his last five starts, chases a seventh career victory and first in a stakes in Saturday’s $100,000 Benny the Bull Handicap for seven 3-year-olds and older going seven furlongs at Gulfstream Park.
Latch the Hatch, bred in Florida by John B. Penn of Ocala, exits a front-running length-and-three-quarters triumph in a first condition, $25,000 optional claiming contested at a mile on a main track rated good on July 27. Sent off the favorite in a field of eight, the son of Curlin’s Honor registered a career-high Beyer Speed Figure of 91.
“He ran a big number in his last race and he did it very impressively,” trainer Joe Orseno said. “He’s doing great. This race wasn’t where I wasn’t thinking about running him, but it was coming up a short field, so I decided to take a shot.”
Latch the Hatch has made 15 of his 16 lifetime starts at Gulfstream and has been third or better 11 times with $258,850 in purse earnings. He has run twice previously in stakes, finishing fourth in the 2024 In Reality division of the $300,000 FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes in his second career race and a distant seventh in the $110,000 Equistaff Sophomore Turf at Tampa Bay Downs last year, his lone try on grass.
After finishing a troubled sixth in a first condition, $25,000 optional claimer going six furlongs to kick off his 2026 campaign, Latch the Hatch owns three wins and two seconds, his losses coming by a combined length-and-a-half. He has two wins, one second and one third in four tries at seven furlongs.
“He’s something else,” Orseno said. “He’s a horse that’s never touted me once. I’ve never been real high on him and he does nothing wrong at all. He’s kind of a cool horse. He’s a plain brown wrapper, he really is.
“It’s just him,” he added. “We liked him when he was a 2-year-old in training, but he got sick so he had to get a little time. But he showed he had talent as a 2-year-old so we just said let’s take a shot on him, and he’s proved us right.”
Latch the Hatch is out of Malibu Melody, by Malibu Moon, making him a half-brother to Florida-bred Langvad, who runs Friday night in the $500,000 Robert Hilton Memorial at Charles Town for trainer Saffie Joseph Jr.
Latch the Hatch was a $22,000 purchase by H H as an agent at the 2023 Ocala Breeders’ Sales October Yearling Sale where he was consigned by Sue Vacek.
Miguel Vasquez is named to ride Latch the Hatch for the first time from post five in a field of seven at 118 pounds, five fewer than topweight Back Em Up. They are the fourth choice on the morning line at 4-1.
“There’s some quality horses in there. There’s a few in there that look good to me, but I think he deserves a chance against them, so we’ll see,” Orseno said. “He’s grown up and filled out and he looks really good.”
Owned by Amy Dunne and trainer Patrick Biancone and bred in Florida by Dunne and her husband, Ciaran, Classic of Course is the richest horse in the Benny the Bull with a $504,916 bankroll in 24 starts. He has run first, second and third five times each, overcoming a sloppy track to capture an upper level, $62,500 optional claimer by a neck going six-and-a-half furlongs on August 3 at Gulfstream. Two starts back he was second to Viking in the Listed Smile Sprint going six furlongs on July 4 at Gulfstream.
Classic of Course owns two stakes wins, both coming last year at Gulfstream—the $158,000 Cutler Bay going seven-and-a-half furlongs on grass in the spring and the $70,000 Awesome Banner overnight handicap racing a mile over the main track in the fall.
“We call him our ATM,” Biancone said. “When he was younger, we ran him two turns, two turns. We have turned him into a sprinter. The other day he worked [four furlongs] in 48 [seconds] like he was galloping. I think next year he will be a good sprinter.”
Classic of Course is by Awesome of Course out of Alma Mater, by Honor Code and will be ridden from post three by J.G. Torrealba. He has a 122-pound impost and is 5-2 on the morning line.
Florida-bred Pure Class ran third to Classic of Course last out, beaten a length-and-a-half, and was third in the Big Drama, a neck behind runner-up Back Em Up. Third in last year’s Benny the Bull Handicap won by Florida-bred Shaq Diesel, Pure Class counts among his eight wins the $110,000 Ocala Breeders’ Sales Sophomore sprinting seven furlongs in March of 2024 at Tampa Bay Downs.
Pure Class is trained by David Fawkes, who claimed Pure Class for $35,000 for owners Robert Mooney and Jeff Siskin’s at Gulfstream in April. He is by The Big Beast out of I’mclassyandsassy, by Master Command was bred in Florida by Alex and JoAnn Lieblong of Conway, Arkansas.
Pure Class has been assigned to carry 120 pounds and is 3-1 on the morning line. Diego Herrera has the call from post seven.
Rounding out the field with jockey and weight assignments are To the Eastside (Edgar Perez, 118); Icelander (Yolber Torres, 117), Moonstrocity (Jose Morelos, 116) and Back Em Up (Samy Camacho, 123).
Bred in Florida by Tomoka Farms, Inc., Benny the Bull won the 2008 Eclipse Award as champion sprinter after going unbeaten in four races starting with the Sunshine Millions Sprint at Gulfstream Park, also winning the Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) and True North (G2) and Smile Sprint (G2) handicaps. He retired with nine wins and $2.35 million in purse earnings from 20 starts, including a victory in the 2007 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G1) at Laurel Park.
Return to the August 27 issue of Wire to Wire
