Last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1T) winner Nobals and his equally fast and talented stablemate One Timer will both run in Kentucky Downs‘ $2 million Ainsworth Turf Sprint (G2T) Sept. 7, trainer Larry Rivelli said.
Of course, Rivelli said the same thing last year. One Timer indeed ran at Kentucky, losing the six-furlong Turf Sprint to Gear Jockey on a head bob in a four-horse photo after winning Kentucky Downs’ Franklin-Simpson Stakes (G2) in 2022 as a 3-year-old. Meanwhile, Rivelli redirected Nobals at the last minute to Colonial Downs for the $150,000 Da Hoss Stakes, which the gelding won en route to a Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint victory.
“Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah,” Rivelli said cheerfully of last year’s switcheroo. “It’s $2 million this year. … The money is so big, it is very possible” he’ll run both.
Kentucky Downs’ all-turf meet runs Aug. 29, 31 and Sept. 1, 5, 7, 8 and 11.
With the purse doubled this year to $2 million for Kentucky-breds and $1 million for everyone else, the Ainsworth Turf Sprint is both a stepping stone to the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint and an objective in its own right. The Ainsworth winner earns a fees-paid spot in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint Nov. 2 at Del Mar as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series: Win and You’re In.
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Both Nobals and One Timer have raced only once this year. Nobals was fourth by a total of three-quarters of a length in a July 28 Saratoga allowance race. One Timer, who wasn’t selected for the Breeders’ Cup field last year, was second in Hawthorne Race Course‘s Robert S. Molaro Memorial the same day in his first start since Kentucky Downs.
Rivelli said the time off was by design.
“I’m just trying to set up for this whole run coming up here,” he said. “I know how impossible it is to keep them going for a whole year. We’re just going to target the late end of the year, which is Kentucky Downs with all this money and then the Breeders’ Cup.
“They’re doing better than they were doing last year, to be honest. Their last race, I was a little bit disappointed with both of them but really no reason, no excuse. I had them ready, at least I think I did. Nobals got kind of a (bad) trip, got hung wide and didn’t really get to run the race he wants to run and got beat only three-quarters of a length. But on the turf, two lengths is like eight lengths on the dirt. You see the horses a neck, a head, a neck, a neck, that type of thing. We were on the good end of a head last year (in the Breeders’ Cup), so I’m all right. If you had to say you could be fourth in an allowance race and take the Breeders’ Cup, I’ll take that.
“But they’re both doing fantastic. I’m hoping the second race off the layoff there will be no excuse. They’ll be tight, they’re going to be fit. They were going in last time, but maybe they just needed a race. The horse (Mischievous Rogue) that beat One Timer at Hawthorne was the only horse in the race that looked like it had a shot to beat us, and it did.”
Vincent Foglia’s Patricia’s Hope owns all of Nobals and half of One Timer, with frequent partner Richard Ravin owning the other half of One Timer.
“They’re pretty similar horses, if you look at their history,” Rivelli said. “They’re not necessarily five-eighths turf horses. Nobals broke the track record at Woodbine going three-quarters. One Timer won going 6 1/2 at Kentucky Downs. Three-quarters, 6 1/2, I’m not afraid to run either of them. My horses have so much speed naturally that I’d assume they’d be in front with not as much company as they’d have in a five-eighths race where everybody has to go, go, go.”
Pedigree note: One Timer is the first foal out of the Blame mare Spanish Star , whose second foal to run is Iowa Oaks winner Just Basking , the third-place finisher in the 1 1/4-mile Alabama (G1) at Saratoga Race Course Aug. 17.
The Chicago-based Rivelli plans to run more horses at Kentucky Downs than he has before. He hopes to run 2-for-2 Shezafunkydrummer and Ellis Park Debutante runner-up Rich City Girl in a 2-year-old stakes in their turf debuts. Homie , whose only start was a turf victory at Horseshoe Indianapolis, also will be pointed for a stakes. Shezafunkydrummer and Homie were set to run in Woodbine grass stakes that were washed out Saturday. Rivelli said they now will train up to the Kentucky Downs races.
Kentucky Downs’ four 2-year-old stakes are each worth $1 million for Kentucky-breds ($500,000 for the others).
“That’s unbelievable,” Rivelli said. “You could retire them if they win, makes their whole career. It’s fantastic there. There are a lot of horses entered in every race, The betting’s good. The purses are big, a lot of people showing up to run. I like it. I’m a fan.”
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.