Plain Brown Wrapper’ Latch the Hatch Back in Stakes Company

4YO Gelding Faces Six Rivals in Saturday’s $100,000 Benny the Bull

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 at Gulfstream Park.

The seven-furlong Benny the Bull for 3-year-olds and up is the first of back-to-back $100,000 stakes on a 10-race program, followed by the Bear’s Den for 3-year-olds scheduled at a two-turn mile on the grass. First race post time is 12:20 p.m.

Latch the Hatch, bred in Florida by John Penn, exits a front-running 1 ¾-length triumph in a one-mile optional claimer July 27 contested over a main track rated good. 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 FSS In Reality in his second career race and a distant seventh in the 2025 Sophomore Turf at Tampa Bay Downs, his lone try on grass.

After finishing a troubled sixth in a six-furlong optional claimer to kick off his 2026 campaign, Latch the Hatch owns three wins and two seconds, his losses coming by 1 ½ lengths combined. 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.”

Miguel Vasquez is named to ride Latch the Hatch for the first time from Post 5 in a field of seven at 118 pounds, five fewer than topweight Back Em Up. They are 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.”

Keough and Meaney and TCC Stables’ Back Em Up (Post 6, Samy Camacho, 123, 2-1) is also a six-time winner, most recently in the one-mile Wildcat Red overnight handicap July 3 at Gulfstream, where he second by a nose in the seven-furlong Big Drama in his prior start. The Bobby Dibona trainee has been third or better in six of seven tries at the distance and 14 of 18 overall on Gulfstream’s main track, including a second behind recent Pacific Classic (G1) winner Knightsbridge in the Jan. 26 Fred Hooper (G3).

Owned by Amy Dunne and trainer Patrick Biancone and bred in Florida by Dunne and her husband, Ciaran, Classic of Course (Post 3, J.G. Torrealba, 122, 5-2) 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 a 6 ½-furlong optional claimer by a neck Aug. 3 at Gulfstream after running second in the six-furlong Smile Sprint July 4.

Classic of Course owns two stakes wins, both coming last year at Gulfstream – the Cutler Bay going 7 ½ furlongs on grass in the spring and the one-mile Awesome Banner overnight handicap 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.”

Robert Mooney and Jeff Siskin’s Pure Class (Post 7, Diego Herrera, 120, 3-1) ran third to Classic of Course last out, beaten 1 ½ lengths, and third in the Big Drama, a neck behind runner-up Back Em Up. Among the 5-year-old gelding’s eight wins is the 2024 Sophomore sprinting seven furlongs in March 2024 at Tampa Bay Downs.

Blue Rose Farm’s Moonstrocity (Post 4, Jose Morelos, 116, 12-1) is the lone 3-year-old in the field. The Jena Antonucci trainee graduated against older horses May 8, his fourth career start, and exits a determined neck victory July 26, both going a one-turn mile at Gulfstream.

Completing the field are To the Eastside (Post 1, Edgar Perez, 118 pounds, 10-1), sixth in the Smile Sprint; and Icelander (Post 2, Yolber Torres, 117, 20-1), fifth in the Wildcat Red.

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.